Fumble! NFL’s role in sports gambling is a recipe for disaster and it should step back – USA TODAY

Footballs interest in promoting gambling is now as robust as its desire to sell beer. This is a recipe for disaster or at least a major scandal.

Peter Funt| Opinion contributor

On a rainy weekend in 1962, three road-weary guys who were holed up at the Milford Plaza Hotel in Manhattan created The Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League.

Bill Winkenbach, a part owner of the Oakland Raiders; Bill Tunnell, the teams PR man, and Scotty Stirling, a sports reporter for the Oakland Tribune, referred to it as GOPPPL.

Today, the roughly 40 million of us partaking in an annual ritual requiring inordinate time and enormous emotion, while providing great fun, call it simply fantasy football.

GOPPPL held its inaugural draft in Mr. Winkenbachs East Oakland basement.

The first pick was George Blanda of the Houston Oilers (later with the Raiders), a prize because he could accumulate points as both a quarterback and place kicker. The next selection was a Cleveland running back by the name of Jim Brown.

As one who loves fantasy football both the weekly and season-long forms I scoff at those who say its a gateway to excessive gambling and even addiction. However, I am concerned to see the NFL and its various media partners rush down the rabbit hole in pursuit of gamblings big bucks.

This year the NFL forged partnerships with three sportsbooks, in deals worth slightly less than$1 billion over five years.

Ads for gambling outlets are allowed for the first time within NFL telecasts limited, for now, to six ads per game.Next year the Arizona Cardinals will become the first NFL team with a sportsbook inside its stadium, and its a safe bet that other teams will follow.

Footballs interest in promoting gambling is now as robust as its desire to sell beer. The NFL has unabashedly accepted three official sports-betting partners: Caesars, DraftKings and FanDuel.

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On the media front, several content providers have jumped into sports gambling, among them Gannett Co., the parent of USA TODAY, which recently announced a deal with Tipico USA Technology to provide gambling information.

ESPN reportedly wants to go a giant step further. It is seeking to license its name to a sports-betting company and is asking $3 billion over several years, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Big Bang for sports gambling came in 2018 with a Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for states (other than Nevada, where gambling was already legal) to whet their beaks.So far, 32 states and the District of Columbia have legalized wagering on sports.

One of GOPPPLs original members was a businessman named Andy Mousalimas. In a 2015 interview with the Oakland Tribune, he recalled, Wed go and root for the opposition and fans would look at us and say, What the hell are you doing rooting for that guy?

Therein was the key to the proliferation of fantasy sports and related wagering, and the reason gambling is embraced by professional leagues like the NFL. Gamblers have a rooting interest in multiple games each week, even those involving lousy teams. This is good for owners, TV networks and advertisers and a windfall for those who promote gambling.

Back in 1988, the renowned coach and commentator John Madden lent his name to a football video game developed by EA Sports. Today, it is the gold standard for computer sports. Not surprisingly, the most popular Madden game is Ultimate Team, for which users create their own rosters, just as they do in fantasy sports.

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Taking it to a new level, DraftKings, which is now affiliated with five NFL teams, offers wagering on simulated games played on the Madden platforms. Other companies also offer cash payoffs on Madden contests. This is the ultimate gambling shortcut: No tickets, no crowds and no waiting for Sunday afternoon. Best of all, no actual teams.

All this has created a perfect storm for sports gambling. Understandably, leagues and media companies want part of the action. But theres a huge difference between the Gannett Co. selling data that might help bettors and the NFL providing tips on how to gamble on its own players. The NFLs website and TV channel offer advice about how best to bet on the very players and teams that the NFL governs. The NFL even sells an app for $9.99 a year that Projects future matchups and shows if adding a player means more wins." This is a recipe for disaster or at least a major scandal.

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The NFL should step back from direct involvement in gambling.

I worry a lot less about my friends and I becoming gambling addicts through fantasy football than I do about the NFL and its owners becoming billion-dollar pushers.

Peter Funt is a writer and host of Candid Camera. His new book is Self-Amused: A Tell-Some Memoir.

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Fumble! NFL's role in sports gambling is a recipe for disaster and it should step back - USA TODAY