NFL Teams Taking A Stance In NY Sports Betting Senate Hearing

• The New York Giants, New York Jets, and Buffalo Bills co-signed a testimony earlier this week.
• The plea involved giving a royalty to sports leagues for sports bets.
• The New York Giants and New York Jets play their home games at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
• The current New York Sports betting bill gives sports leagues a 0.20% royalty fee for all sports wagers.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Representatives of the NBA, MLB, and PGA Tour have been quite vocal on their stance towards legal sports betting. But, the NFL has stayed rather silent. Earlier this week, three New York NFL teams spoke on behalf of the league during a State Senate hearing.

The New York Giants, New York Jets, and the Buffalo Bills signed the testimony. The New York State Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee was in charge of reading the plea. The committee is currently debating how to go forth with sports betting bill NY S 17.

The stance taken by the three teams was like the stance taken by the MLB and NBA. The team’s urged state lawmakers to allow the leagues to cut certain wagering types.

“Examples might range from the number of passing yards by a quarterback in a football game or number of points or rebounds by a team during a quarter of basketball game, to the number of ‘throw-ins’ in a soccer match – or even how many flags a referee might throw in a contest,” the letter read.

New Jersey, which hosts the home games of the New York Giants and New York Jets, does not give the leagues this authority. But, New Jersey state officials have softened their take on the issue.

“We said we’d get back to them after a review of each request,” said David Rebuck, Director of the N.J. Division Of Gaming Enforcement. “It’s not an absolute veto power by any means – we’d never give them that – but there is dialogue.”

The New York NFL teams also require sportsbooks to use official league data when developing betting lines.

“An essential component of consumer protection is the requirement that the information used to settle these wagers is correct and timely, something that can only come from official data provided by the leagues themselves…We believe our data should be the standard in a legal, regulated market,” the letter read.

This is also another provision that isn’t used in any state with legal sports betting. Instead, sportsbook operators have used third-party data companies to get that accurate information.

The official data the NFL and other leagues stand to give is in exchange for a cut of sports wagers. The amended form of the bill includes a royalty fee of 0.20% placed on all sports wagers to go to the respective league.

That fee has been very controversial. It is due to the fact that it would limit the profitability of sports wagering. The casinos that offer the activity would lose more money which means the state would have fewer funds to be able to tax.

Whether or not that amendment will stand before the bill goes to a full Senate vote is unclear. What is clear is that the NFL has sided with other leagues in its stance towards New York sports betting.

News tags: Buffalo Bills | New York | New York Giants | New York Jets | NFL | NY SB 17