American Gaming Association CEO Geoff Freeman reiterated the organization’s commitment to expanded and regulated sports betting, while once again stressing that the fight to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) is only beginning.
Freeman made his remarks during a keynote address at the Sports Betting USA Conference in New York City on Tuesday evening.
Speaking forcefully and rapidly, Freeman spent his 15-minute address outlining a two-pronged attack for the prospective post-PASPA gaming landscape. He emphasized his belief that the Dec. 4 U.S. Supreme Court hearing, and its potential to remake the American sports betting industry, represents a “huge opportunity (for) us” in the gaming industry. He noted once again that estimates indicate that black-market sports betting in the United States tops $150 billion annually. New revenue of potentially more than $8 billion is, “out there, waiting to be had.”
Freeman then shifted into a discussion of in-play betting, the ability to “bet ball/strike, side-bet, double play.” Such real-time play could create entirely new potential revenue streams in a post- or augmented-PAPSA world, and led Freeman to state that the $8 billion figure may ultimately prove to be a low estimate.
Referencing the quarter-century since PASPA’s passage, Freeman mentioned, for contrast to today, that in that year then Vice President Dan Quayle made headlines for criticizing Murphy Brown, a fictional character, for being a single mother raising a child (and that Freeman himself could have been a 5-foot-9-inch professional goalkeeper.”)
Illustrating the tremendous growth of the casino industry in the two-decades plus, Freeman stated that the casino industry in 1992 “operated in six states… Today, it’s in twenty-four states.” Concurrent with that expansion, the industry’s economic impact has expanded from “about $11 billion in total revenue… (to) about $70 billion.”
Freeman noted the change in league policy, as well, contrasting the early 1990s emphasis on “getting fans… in the stadium” with today’s need to “get the eyeballs,” as illustrated by the “incredible TV contracts” that some teams have signed.
He credited daily fantasy sports for “proving what can happen when you get the fans engaged,” and underscored the fundamental differences between sports fandom today and in 1992 – in short, fan engagement driven by the Internet. He went on to say “the situation demands we get rid of this thing,” and that while “… you’re optimistic” that PASPA will be repealed, Freeman himself is “convinced.”
He gave a brief discussion of three potential outcomes of the Supreme Court hearing – no change in the law, a complete repeal, or the outcome Freeman cited as most likely, a partial repeal that states that “some aspect of New Jersey’s workaround is acceptable.” He said a less-than-satisfactory result would then necessitate a full-court press on Congress by the AGA and the gaming industry at large.
Saying that Washington “simply does not deal with gaming issues,” Freeman cautioned that “it is going to be exponentially more difficult… to get federal legislation in this space” than some operators might believe.
Freeman went on to outline a strategy for taking the fight for full PASPA repeal to Capitol Hill, stressing the need for unity amongst stakeholders and education for legislators in the form of AGA’s ongoing public efforts to clarify the issue.
Saying that “Washington doesn’t seize opportunity, Washington responds to problems,” Freeman emphasized that the gaming community “… has a responsibility to help them understand what the problem is in this case, and we’re doing just that.”
