Sports Betting No Problem, Says NASCAR
While the majority of the major US sports leagues go into a frenzy over pending sports betting in Delaware, officials at NASCAR say the potential of gambling corruption is minimal, and they aren't worried about the new law affecting their sport in any way.
Unlike the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and the money-making top division of the NCAA, NASCAR does actually conduct business in Delaware. The auto racing circuit runs twice a year in Dover, but confesses no concern over the implications of legal sports betting.
“NASCAR has no issue with Delaware’s proposed law for sports betting,” NASCAR Managing Director of Corporate Communications Ramsey Poston told Full Throttle Autos Online. “We have been racing in Las Vegas for 11 years, the only jurisdiction with legal sports betting including betting on NASCAR events, and there’s never been an issue."
"Our competitors know not to gamble on NASCAR events," Poston said in a May statement. "The bottom line is, many of our fans love to gamble in a legal and fun way."
NASCAR drivers say the question of gambling corruption doesn't even come up, noting that the NFL is making a shameful statement of how it feels about the integrity of its employees.
"I don't even know if there is a policy in place about it (sports betting).. At the end of the day, you have to have the integrity that makes you make the right decision," says iconic race driver Jeff Burton.
When asked about the temptations that may come from nearby Delaware casinos, certainly closer to tracks than any field holding the Philadelphia Eagles or Washington Redskins, Burton laughed, "I find it hard to believe that location really has anything to do with it. Shady characters can come from Las Vegas as well as they can come from Delaware."
