Leagues shouldn’t get one dime from sports betting in New Jersey (Opinion)

Al Leiter has come out of retirement to make a pitch. This pitch isn't for the Yankees or Mets, but for the leagues to have a say as well as a cut in the revenue once sports betting hits New Jersey. I'm hoping this pitch strikes out.

Sports betting has been going on legally for years in Delaware, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon. They never had to pay the leagues, why should New Jersey? Why- because, the leagues are trying to extract whatever money they can now that they lost in court. Senate President Steve Sweeney calls it extortion. I call it taking a shot. In NFL terms, "throwing a Hail Mary".

Leiter's argument is that "there's got to be some regulation and some people watching to make sure everything is done properly to maintain the integrity of the respective sport." According to Njadvancemedia.com, "the leagues want to form a coalition with the states and sports betting operators to make sure proper data is shared and consumer protections are in place".

Considering the money that's being wagered in those legal states as well as the trillions of dollars that are wagered illegally, shouldn't they already be doing that? Once sports betting becomes legal everywhere it's going to be even more important that they maintain integrity whether the state pays them or not.

That's laughable. The league has nothing to do with the gambling business. They don't set the lines nor take the wagers. They already provide more than enough data for the bettor in the form of injury reports and analysis.

These leagues make enough money off the people of New Jersey. Giants and Jets fans can simply look at the price of their personal seat licenses, not to mention their skyrocketing ticket prices, not to mention how much money the NFL made when the Super Bowl was here vs. the state of New Jersey.

As much as these leagues want us to believe that they are the last word in integrity and all money should be shared with them, sports betting has been doing just fine for years without their help and will continue to do so once it comes to New Jersey. Must really suck for them to see all that money and know that they can't get their hands on it. Too bad.

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