The latest from the ‘Legal Sports Report’ show explored the confusion circling around placing bets on the NFL Draft.
Adam Candee, Matt Brown and Dustin Gouker all agreed on one thing – everyone who wants to make a bet on the NFL Draft should be able to do so, no matter where they are in the US.
There is a problem however, as each state comes up with its own rules of what is permitted, creating a diversified landscape of NFL Draft betting opportunities where an unaware bettor can travel from Arizona and its legal Draft wagering to a neighbouring Nevada where it’s currently banned.
Responding to Brown’s question on why some people were able to bet and others not, Candee said: “There is no federal or national rule about what’s allowed and what’s not in terms of permitted events. You can look at a place like where we live, in Nevada, where they have weird rules about pulling the draft bets down 24 hours before the event starts. These are all set individually by the regulators in that state.”
Candee then pulled the problem’s peel back even further, noting: “On a deeper level, this is an old school versus new school bookmaking question. The old school bookmakers very simply do not like putting up draft bets. They believe that the market is largely a sharp market, that it’s not a very public market. And so, in a state like Nevada, you’re not going to have pressure from the bookmakers to change these rules.
“Think about the fact that the NFL draft was held in Las Vegas at a time when fans from across the country, 99% of them wearing some sort of team-affiliated gear, are showing up in town wanting to bet on the draft, and they are not able to. And you’re having to explain to them from Wednesday at five PM through the entirety of the draft why there’s no draft betting available in Nevada, which essentially comes down to crankiness and old school mentality.”
Expanding on Candee’s words, Legal Sports Report co-host Gouker stated that betting on the NFL Draft would increase viewers’ satisfaction: “The other funny part is, is any book really going to lose its shirt on draft betting? They have limits on these things, they’re not taking six figure bets on draft positions and things like that. Sportsbooks like to complain about things.
“They’re not losing tons of money on this. This is why I think, in states outside of Nevada, it’s a customer retention tool. People are going to watch the draft anyway, which is fun but let’s all say that it’s certainly more fun to have a little bit of sweat on what’s going on when all this stuff is getting announced,” Gouker concluded.
