iGaming Business – Adam Silver, commissioner of the North American National Basketball Association (NBA) league, has once again voiced his backing for the introduction of legalised sports betting in the US.

Silver in September said that legalised sports betting would become “inevitable” in the country due to struggling state budgets and a wider acceptance of gambling by US citizens.

Backing up these quotes, Silver has used an opinion piece in US newspaper the New York Times to state that the country must adopt a different approach to sports betting, which remains illegal in the US outside the state of Nevada.

Silver believes that by legalising the practice of sports betting, the US could take advantage of an estimated $400 billion (€321.2 billion) that is currently being spent on illegal sports wagering activities.

“For more than two decades, the NBA has opposed the expansion of legal sports betting, as have the other major professional sports leagues in the United States,” Silver said in the article.

“In 1992, the leagues supported the passage by Congress of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or Paspa, which generally prohibits states from authorising sports betting. But despite legal restrictions, sports betting is widespread.

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