The NFL's Stance on Gambling: A Calculated Contradiction
![handle is hein.journals/unlvgalj4 and id is 299 raw text is: THE NFL's STANCE ON GAMBLING:
A CALCULATED CONTRADICTION
Daniel Bernard*
If aliens landed on Earth tomorrow and it was your task to pick one day
that epitomizes America, you would choose Super Bowl Sunday. While the
Fourth of July has patriotism, Christmas has consumption, and Thanksgiving
has overeating and football, only Super Bowl Sunday combines, overeating,1
football,2 consumption,3 and one other American love: gambling.4
The most money gambled on any single game is undeniably gambled on
the Super Bowl.5 However, a significant amount of money is gambled through-
out the entire National Football League (NFL)6 season,7 $1.34 billion
legally8 and $80-$100 billion illegally.9 Although the NFL does not directly
profit from the money gambled,10 it profits indirectly through increased televi-
sion ratings and increased popularity. One might assume these astounding num-
bers would be joy to the ears of the NFL because they show the immense
popularity of the sport, leading the NFL to support efforts to expand sports
betting into more states. This, however, is not true. On August 7, 2012 the NFL
joined with the NCAA, the NBA, the NHL, and MLB in a Complaint against
Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, David Rebuck, the director of the
* J.D. 2013, Rutgers School of Law-Newark; BBA 2008, Temple University.
See Ryan Naquin, USDA: Super Bowl Sunday is America's Second Largest Consumption
Day, CAROLINALWVE.COM, Jan. 30, 2012, http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspxid=
713608.
2 Super Bowl History, NFL, http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/history (last visited Mar. 19,
2013).
3 See The rising cost of Super Bowl commercials: By the numbers, YAHOO! NEWS, Jan. 4,
2012, http://news.yahoo.com/rising-cost-super-bowl-commercials-numbers- 1 14900544.html.
4 See generally Sam Borden, On a Futures Bet, Las Vegas Loses if the Giants Win, N.Y.
TIMES, Jan. 25, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/sports/football/on-a-futures-bet-
las-vegas-loses-if-the-giants-win.html?hp (reporting on the odds of Nevada casinos on a par-
ticular Super Bowl).
' See Jimmy Boyd, How Much Money is Bet on The Super Bowl, BOYD'S BETS, http://www
.boydsbets.comsuper-bowl-how-much-bet/.
6 [T]he NFL is an unincorporated association controlled by its thirty-two constituent mem-
ber clubs. Originally formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Conference, the
league has been operating under the NFL moniker since 1922. Complaint for Declaratory
and Injunctive Relief, Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Christie (2012) (No. CV 124947),
2012 WL 3171566.
' See Miranda Green, NFL's Shadow Economy of Gambling and Fantasy Football is a
Multibillion Dollar Business, THE DAILY BEAST, Oct. 6, 2012, http://www.thedailybeast
.com/articles/2012/10/06/nfl-s-shadow-economy-of-gambling-and-fantasy-football-is-a-mu
tibillion-dollar-business.html.
8 Id.
9 Top Sports for Illegal Wagers, CNBC.coM, http://www.cnbc.com/id/34312813/Top-
Sports for Illegal Wagers?slide=2 (last visited Mar. 19, 2013).
10 For example, there is no official NFL Casino or official NFL sports book.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/unlvgalj4&div=19&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The NFL's Stance on Gambling: A Calculated Contradiction
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