Betting On The NFL Draft In Nevada

The Nevada Gaming Control Board made an announcement last week that for the first time ever, they will be providing betting odds on the 2017 NFL draft. This has triggered some concern due to the unclear nature of whether or not the NFL draft is considered sports betting, in which case it would be banned by PASPA.

However the powers that be are taking a stance that would seem to defy those ramifications. With so much money at stake going forward this will be a very important fight for the Nevada books to win. And some feel it's better to put the ball in play and see if the Feds are even paying attention let alone care about draft betting.

Betting On The NFL Draft

The NFL Draft begins on April 27th and ends on the 29th and fans will have the opportunity to place a bevy of prop bets on the event at Nevada’s state regulated sportsbook facilities. While you won’t be able to place wagers on who the Browns will take with the top overall pick or where a specific player will be drafted because there are people on the inside that could take advantage of those lines. However, there are a number of other things that you can place money on such as predicting the number of quarterbacks taken in the first round, the number of players taken from a specific school, whether or not more offensive or defensive players will be taken on day 1 and things like that.

PASPA Effects On NFL Draft Betting

The interesting thing about PASPA is that it’s largely up to interpretation due to the overall vague nature of the wording of the law. Ryan Rodenberg, a sports law professor at FSU touched on the issue essentially explaining that the words used in the law make it so that a sports league could file a lawsuit citing PASPA if they so choose. He also brought up the sports betting case in New Jersey, citing that as an example. PASPA prohibits wagering on sports games but the word “games” is followed by these being games “directly or indirectly”. The question to answer now is whether or not the NFL Draft indirectly impacts games.

While sports betting in Nevada is technically excluded from PASPA due to its laws being grandfathered in, there are specifics in the law that are meant to stop any new forms of gambling from being implemented and that includes Nevada. This issue isn’t expected to get much pushback from the NFL so it’s unlikely a lawsuit will come of it but it is certainly worth noting that the opportunity to do so is there.

PASPA Is Outdated

The NFL is pretty flip-floppy on the issue of sports betting as Commissioner Roger Goodell has vocally expressed his opposition of sports betting in the NFL but has also been quoted as saying that it “could be beneficial.” The unclear stance on the topic is not a surprise but one thing is clear, the idea that the league would be hurt by the legalization of sports betting is ridiculous and PASPA doesn’t help things.

There’s no telling what the NFL will do in the future but one thing is for sure, PASPA is outdated and is holding the U.S. sports betting market hostage. It’s a tired way of thinking that ultimately just makes things more complicated and it’s time something is done about it.

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