Big 12 taking a 'wait-and-see' approach on sports wagering
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FRISCO, Texas -- Baylor head coach Matt Rhule was off the hook this year. Only a single question was asked during Big 12 Media Days having to do with the unsavory allegations hovering over his program - and that question was asked of conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby.
The commish swiftly deflected from that topic under the cover of "ongoing investigations," but there was another topic that has its own somewhat scandalous connotation that he did have to answer to for the first time this year: the legalization of sports gambling and what impact that will have on the conference.
But truthfully, there isn’t much for him to talk about just yet until all states have independently sorted out what the legalization means for them.
“I think we're very much in a wait-and-see environment right now,” Bowlsby said. “There's a lot of talk about integrity fees. There is a lot of talk about how it gets managed. Are we really going to end up with 50 states that all have different laws on legalized gambling?”
With all due respect to Bowlsby, he might not even have to worry about such a thing during his tenure as conference commissioner. Prior to the Supreme Court ruling opening up the doors on sports betting, the Associated Press cited a report by the gaming research firm Eilers & Krejcik that predicted 44 states would make sports betting available within seven years.
Should those predictions be correct, only one state home to any conference teams wouldn’t be prepared to legalize sports betting by that time. But it’s a big one: Texas. Four of the conference’s 10 teams are in the Lone Star State, and in the current football format each team plays each team at least once, which presents a bit of a hiccup in what that could mean for the regulation of revenue from wagering on games played at or including Texas-based programs.
“What do we end up with if a couple of our states in the Big 12 footprint have legalized gambling and three others don't?” Bowlsby pondered. “What do you end up with if some say you can bet on professional sports, but you can't bet on high school and college sports? It's just taking a while to settle in and, frankly, I don't know how it's going to turn out.”
One of the states within the conference territory that seems closest to opening the doors on sports betting is West Virginia. When it came to the Mountaineers, head coach Dana Holgorsen - who has a bit of a history with casinos himself - addressed the more obvious threat of players betting on the very games they might be participating in.
“I don't have any fears. If there were five different spots in West Virginia (to gamble on) I don't think any of our players are going to go do that,” he said. “They're the most recognizable figures in our state. If they're dumb enough to do that, then they're dumb enough to do a whole bunch of other stuff.”
The implication from Holgorsen touched on when players bet on their own teams, doing so often influences the outcome. He said that is one of the cardinal sins of his program - regardless of the legality of it within the state.
“We will talk to our players about it. We do every year,” he said. “It used to be the No. 1 thing that would get you banned from being able to play football. It was a clear-cut No. 1. It's probably a clear-cut No. 2 now, based on what's happened over the last few years, but it's something we will address with them.”
Numbers vary a bit as to just how much money is wagered every year on sports, but Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal estimated that nearly 5 billion dollars was gambled in 2017 - just in Nevada. Bowlsby said Big 12 venues are still far from the days that will mimic English Premier League stadiums with gambling kiosks next to concession stands, but he did offer one concrete prediction, which fell in line with the direction Holgorsen took the conversation.
“As near as I can tell, the real losers in the whole thing are organized crime,” he said. “If it's legal everywhere, it's hard to imagine why people would place illegal bets and risk that sort of jeopardy. We're all keeping our ear to the ground.”