Since the Supreme Court overturned PASPA in 2018, US state and tribal regulators have had the opportunity to establish sports betting frameworks, benefiting their residents with new revenue streams and consumer protections. But the landscape remains volatile, shaped by key directives, diverse laws and competing interests. Official betting is one such issue, with leagues seeking a role as primary stakeholders and profits from US sports betting.
Amid the ongoing debate over legal sports betting, the NBA and MLB have pressed for official data mandates as part of their efforts to shape US regulatory policy. Official data explains the specific information and statistical methodologies that pro sports leagues use to create their games, a crucial factor in determining the outcome of a sporting event.
Leagues want to make sure that any betting activity is accurate, fair and consistent, and that it does not skew the odds. But, at the same time, they must balance this desire with their own interest in maximizing the amount of money wagered on their games. This is especially true of major league baseball, which has a strict rule against gambling that prohibits players and officials from placing bets on the games in which they are playing. In fact, any player, umpire or club or league official who places a bet on a game that is part of his or her duties is permanently ineligible to play in Major League Baseball, and such individuals are also permanently banned from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In recent years, the NBA and MLB have made their pitch for official data mandates to legislators and regulators, with the leagues seeking a direct cut of the top of all US sports betting handle. The quest for official data has supplanted the integrity fee as the leagues’ preferred method of seeking profits from US sports betting, although the latter remains on the table as a potential alternative to a data mandate.
The NCAA is also pushing for changes in sports betting regulations, with a goal of protecting student-athletes from harassment and coercion by people who bet on their games. In a 2023 survey of campus compliance directors, 27% of autonomy schools reported that they had dealt with a sports-betting-related issue involving a student-athlete within the past year. This reflects the widespread concern that the proliferation of sports betting in the United States threatens the health and safety of young athletes, encourages irresponsible behavior among college-age students, and undermines the integrity of NCAA competition.