A Commonwealth of Kentucky legislator wants to prepare his state for sports betting’s eventual legality, while an NFL defensive back wants the league to pull its hypocritical head out of its ass.
Wednesday saw Kentucky state Sen. Julian Carroll file BR 155, which would exempt sports betting from the state’s list of gambling no-no’s, require the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to institute a sports wagering system and to “vest forceful control” over the activity, and to make it Commonwealth policy to “encourage wagering on sporting events, when allowed by federal law.”
That last clause is the only really important one, as BR 155 won’t mean squat until the federal government revises or repeals its PASPA sports betting prohibition, which it could be forced to do if the US Supreme Court tells the government that New Jersey has a point.
Kentucky’s bill joins a growing list of states that are attempting to position themselves in the event that the Supremes find PASPA unconstitutional, or federal politicians decide they need to define their own gambling landscape before the courts do it for them.
The National Football League is probably the most adamant opponent of New Jersey’s quest to add legal sports betting at state racetracks and Atlantic City casinos, despite the widely held belief that the NFL’s dominant position among North American sports is largely based on its fans wagering on the outcomes of games.
Enter Richard Sherman, the Seattle Seahawks cornerback who has never felt shy about speaking his mind. On Wednesday, Sherman (pictured) addressed the recent hamstring injury that caused him to miss two practices, a fact documented in detail in the league-mandated injury reports each NFL team is required to submit.
As reported by the Seattle Times, Sherman didn’t mince words, saying the injury rules “are for gamblers, for Vegas to make sure the odds and everything are what they are supposed to be, which is apparently what the league is concerned about … maybe someone should look into that, because I thought we weren’t a gambling league or we were against all of those things.”
The ever-entertaining Sherman, who actively promotes DRAFT, the daily fantasy sports site of UK-listed online gambling operator Paddy Power Betfair, wasn’t having any talk about injury reports being for that more benign form of betting. “Fantasy football, oh my God. They’re almost as bad as the gamblers.”
