April 2018 Basketball Wiretap

NBA Seeking One Percent Of Every Legal Wager

Jan 24, 2018 2:43 PM

The NBA has laid out a plan in which they would receive a percentage of every legalized wager on their game.

The NBA wants 1 percent of every bet made on its games in addition to other regulations, a request that could create massive revenue for the NBA and other sports leagues in the future.

NBA attorney Dan Spillane testified in front of a New York State Senate committee about the league's plan.

"We have studied these issues at length," Spillane said in his statement to lawmakers. "Our conclusion is that the time has come for a different approach that gives sports fans a safe and legal way to wager on sporting events while protecting the integrity of the underlying competitions."

In 2016, Nevada had $4.5 billion in sports wagers. When the numbers come in for 2017, they could be over $5 billion for the first time. 

While sports leagues have historically battled against wagering, they now see it as a lucrative revenue opportunity.

Pro leagues in Australia and France receive a small percentage of bets made on their sports. The NBA has studied Australia's laws closely in forming a position on the matter.

Brian Windhorst/ESPN

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

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Kevin Durant Has Increased Interest In Owning NBA Team

Jan 15, 2018 10:09 AM

Kevin Durant's desire to eventually own an NBA team has increased since joining the Golden State Warriors.

Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman have taken numerous meetings with existing owners and tech CEOs to gather information about the endeavor.

One source says "this is a genuine goal of his after he retires, to add another African-American in the position of majority ownership."

LeBron James also has interest in owning an NBA franchise while Michael Jordan is the only current African-American majority owner of an NBA team.

"MJ was the first big Nike athlete, the biggest star of his time, but if you don't have the trajectory, that path, that journey, it's going to be hard to do what he did," Durant said. "But you can still affect the NBA and the game of basketball in a different way. You don't have to be an owner. I think it should be more guys in the positions of power like general managers and scouts and coaches. Anything that involves the day-to-day operations of these franchises. I think more players and more experienced players should be in those positions."

Durant has investments in Rubrik (a cloud computing startup), Overtime (a sports technology media startup), the pizza chain Pieology, the app Acorns, Postmates (an on-demand delivery service), and Skydio (an autonomous drone startup).

"We're paid for what we can do on the basketball court and most players know these paychecks are not going to come on the first and 15th for the rest of our lives," he said. "If we get a big sum of money, why not try to help it grow? That's what entrepreneurs and Fortune-500 CEOs do. They get a crop of money and they try to grow it. They get a product and they try to grow it. We're our own business. Why not try to control that and why not try to leverage that to provide a better life after you're done playing? That's what it's about."

Chris Haynes/ESPN

Tags: Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA CBA

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