AGA poll highlights need for education on sports betting issue

The American Gaming Association this week unveiled what is surely the most exhaustive and methodologically rigorous survey ever conducted of pro football fans – more than 45,000 of them – and their views toward sports betting.

The poll found that 30 of the 32 National Football League fan bases are in favor of changing federal law to turn the issue of sports betting back to the states.

The broader purpose of the project was to compile data showing the fan support for the sports gambling that can eventually be used as a bludgeon against the NFL – the last major holdout in the anti-sports betting crowd.

But what new ground did the poll break? After all, it’s not like we didn’t already have some sense that football fans like to bet on games.

As one snarky commenter on Twitter put it – “[I]n related poll fans like beer. Who knew?”

A closer look through the 123 page report and data reveals some deeper insights, particularly that while opposition to sports betting among football fans is minimal, there still remains a great deal of uncertainty and need for groups like the AGA to continue educating the public.

The fan bases most favorable toward repealing PASPA were by and large located in or near areas that already allow sports betting or are seriously examining the question. 67 percent of Arizona Cardinals fans were supportive, as were 61 percent of New York Jets fans and 58 percent of New York Giants fans.

Though both the Jets and Giants play under the New York name, they play their games in suburban New Jersey.

“Given the extensive publicity surrounding New Jersey’s efforts to legalize sports betting and the visibility it has received locally, it would be expected that fans that follow the Jets and Giants are more acutely aware of the legal issues and the implications of that question than might fans in other markets,” said Daniel Wallach, a sports law attorney at Becker & Poliakoff in Miami.

57 percent of Los Angeles Rams fans also approved of legalized sports betting, suggesting a connection with being close to Las Vegas.

“The proximity to Nevada certainly could have a material influence on the survey numbers,” Wallach said. “It shows that fans that are in or near regulated gambling environments would have a greater propensity and desire to support legal sports betting. They’ve been around it, and they want it.”

But while the data suggests that NFL fans are generally in favor of loosening restrictions on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which largely prohibits sports betting outside of Nevada, this poll hardly suggests that there is an avalanche of momentum behind the PASPA repeal effort.

Across all 32 teams, the average fan base was 54 percent in favor of loosening PASPA – 27 percent “strongly” and 27 percent “not strongly”, while the median level of support was 53 percent. An average of 17 percent were opposed, while another 29 percent responded that they don’t know or have no opinion.

“What surprised me overall about the poll is I expected the numbers to be higher,” said Wallach, who suggested that NFL fans are more reticent on the issue than others. “If you give that same poll to NBA fans, the numbers would be much higher – which is remarkable given that basketball has had more [match-fixing] scandals than the NFL has.”

Wallach also noted that some of the questions were asked in a manner that some might have found confusing.

“The questions weren’t phrased in a simplistic manner such as ‘Do you support gambling on sporting events?’” he said. “The questions were a little bit more layered, and if you didn’t have enough familiarity with the issues that are in play, it could have come across as somewhat of a complex question.”

The survey also touched on some public policy implications of sports betting – where again, respondents were generally favorable but with a large contingent saying they didn’t know or had no opinion.

For instance, 57 percent of respondents said it was “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that revenues from legal sports betting would be steered into education and public safety programs.

56 percent said that it was likely that sports betting will be made safer for consumers if bets are placed with reliable U.S.-based companies, but only 21 percent said this outcome was “very likely.”

Granted, only 20 percent of people said it was unlikely that legal sports betting would be safer for consumers, but – at least in my mind – this is the primary argument in favor of the practice. I think the broader takeaway is that there appears to be a disconnect between those of us who make our living advocating for and writing about sports betting and actual NFL fans.

Another flummoxing result of the survey was the responses to a series of three personal interest questions asking people if they are more likely to watch a game, follow the players and enjoy the game if they have money riding on the outcome.

Across all three questions, roughly 40 percent of respondents said they didn’t know or had no opinion. Perhaps people were concerned about incriminating themselves or had just became disengaged that far down the survey, but the results seems very unrepresentative considering the unrelenting passion of the modern-day sports hooligan.

“Believe me, if anyone has an opinion on something, it’s sports fans,” said Wallach. “In my mind I found it astounding that close to 30 percent of New England Patriots fans did not have an opinion. There are three things in life that are certain, death taxes and Boston fans having an opinion on something.”

Wallach stressed that these results aren’t cause for concern, but rather that they illustrate that there is a need for groups like the AGA to continue raising awareness of the subject.

“I wouldn’t place too much weight on the “I don’t knows,” he said. “In fact, it’s reflective of the need for continued education and awareness of the issues that are in play.”