Odds on Feds allowing sports betting?

[dave nz]

By Jeff Edelstein


Here’s a pair of numbers you need to know: Nine percent and 50 million.

Nine percent is the amount of tax Atlantic City casinos have to pay on their revenue.

And 50 million is the number of Americans who live within a 300-mile drive of Atlantic City.

Why am I getting all mathy this morning? Because those two numbers above are the starting point for how we can create a massive windfall for this state.

Sports betting. Plain and simple.

Now I’ve wrote about this before, and I’m sure I’ll write about it again, but the issue took a strange turn earlier this week when a spokesman for the National Football League apparently lost his mind.

Speaking at a public hearing, NFL spokesman Timothy McDonough told lawmakers that A) betting on the NFL sends a bad message to America’s youth and B) that it makes fans think the games might not be on the up and up.

What a load of crap.

The NFL knows — just like we all know — that football would never have catapulted into becoming America’s Game without betting. No way, no how. From straight-up bets to Fantasy Football to suicide pools to you name it, betting on football is the one — and only — reason the NFL has become the cash cow it is.

Seriously. The NFL saying gambling is bad for the game is like Budweiser saying getting drunk is bad for beer.

Anyway, the NFL is fighting New Jersey’s plans to open up sports betting in Atlantic City. The state legislature hopes to have a public vote on the issue come November, and if that passes, we then have to hope we win our lawsuit against the federal government. (Yep. We’re suing the feds to allow us to host sports betting.)

The NFL does not want this to happen. The NFL is insane, especially because if we get the chance, legally, to get sports betting here, we simply need to take it.

Let’s get back to those numbers, eh?

There is a lot of money to be made in sports betting. With 50 million people within a tank of gas of Atlantic City, you can be sure a decent-sized chunk of humanity would make the drive to take the Jets +6.

In fact, and according to an AP story, a study by Brennan’s Internet betting association put the total take at some $10 billion a year in sports bets if Atlantic City was allowed to do open sports books. And that’s where my 9 percent number comes in.

New Jersey lawmakers would be making a huge mistake if they didn’t drastically raise the tax when it comes to sports betting.

(Here comes more math.)

Let’s say the $10 billion take for the casinos is the number, and let’s say the Bookmakers do their job and it’s a 50/50 split between winners and losers. And let’s further assume a modest 10 percent vig. (The vig is the juice. The juice is ... put it this way: You have to bet $110 to win $100.) So anyway, at 10 percent vig, the casinos would take in a $500 million profit. At nine percent, we’d only be getting some $45 million in revenue, and this would make the casinos very happy.

And I say we let them have the money. They can keep every dime, even the $45 million. We’ll just lay a five percent tax on top of everything, and take home our own $500 million.

In the end, everyone wins. The casinos get fat, us taxpayers catch a break, and anyone who wants to place a bet can do so legally.

[ace bdream]

This is what i was talking about kind of. Now since the States and the whole USA IS BROKE there is a better chance of getting things LEGAL. They all have lottos, now more are getting slots, THEY SHOULD JUST LET ALL GAMING BE OK. Sports betting WILL BE IN A.C. within 3 years. I hope, CAUSE I AINT GETTING ANY YOUNGER. They should have it in Pa AND THE REST OF the USA. P.A. got tables games cause they wanted MONEY. And i allways thought gambling was a SIN. But not when they need MONEY. Damn that pisses me off.

[iggs111]

gambling on sports will never be legal all over the U.S. It just wont happen. Maybe places like A.C. or California or even Delaware but not the whole U.S.

[ace bdream]

I know , BUT IT SHOULD BE, wel maybe not in Utah.