As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, the NBA's ongoing gambling scandal has triggered a broader and long overdue conversation about the complicated relationship between professional sports and legalized betting. Andthe latest twist comes from concerns about how deep that relationship might run in the NFL.
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Former radio host Craig Carton, who has spoken publicly about his own gambling addiction, recently warned that the league's potential 10-percent ownership stake in ESPN, and by extension ESPN Bet, could create a major conflict of interest.
"ESPN needs to divest immediately from ESPN Bet," Carton said, via Awful Announcing. "If the NFL owns a piece of ESPN, they own a piece of the sportsbook. You can't have it both ways.
"If they benefit from you losing your wager, they're incentivized to control outcomes of games. When you want people to never question your integrity, you can't own a piece of a sportsbook."
Florio clarified that Carton's concern is not technically accurate since ESPN Bet is operated by PENN Entertainment, which licenses the ESPN brand.
However, ESPN does hold PENN stock options, which could create indirect ownership ties. The NFL's stake in ESPN is not yet final and still requires federal approval.
Still, Florio says Carton's larger point holds weight for another reason. The NFL already allows team owners to hold up to five percent of companies that operate sportsbooks, as long as they are not involved in management.
The problem is that no one outside the league knows which owners hold what or how much.
As Florio notes, that lack of transparency leaves fans, regulators, and players in the dark and raises the same question Carton hinted at. If an NFL owner profits from a sportsbook, can fans ever truly believe every outcome is clean?
