Not so fast.Originally Posted by Crowe Diddly
Let's be even a little bit realist here, and by "leagues" you mean the NBA & MLB, because they are the only ones who mentioned it ever, in any sort of way. There is not a chance in hell any league gets any "integrity fee" from gambling. Not a bit. 0.0%. They will all have betting kiosks in their stadiums when the gambling laws pass, because the William Hills of the world will pay them to put them there.
Gambling integrity fees. LOL.
While I share your opinion that the fee is ridiculous and should be dismissed by any state regulating sportsbetting, we're already seeing an example in West Virginia of it possibly becoming real.
West Virginia was fooled into believing that this "integrity fee" is necessary to ensure there is no fixing of games or point shaving, and they are in the process of negotiating how high that fee will be.
The industry believes that the 1% the leagues are asking for is simply an intentionally high starting point, but their actual target number is 0.25%.
It seems more likely than not at this point that West Virginia (which will be one of the first new states with legalized sportsbetting) will indeed have such a fee.
States are also willing to write this info law because the casinos will be paying the fee, and not the states themselves. So they're passing the burden onto the casinos, who will then likely pass them onto the sportsbettor.
Sad!
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