MLBPA Expresses Concern Over Sports Betting Legalization
Photo by Alex Trautwig/WBCI/MLB via Getty Images. Pictured: Tony Clark.
The MLB Players Association expressed concern about the ongoing legalization and normalization of sports betting in the United States.
In an interview with the media at the All-Star Game, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark indicated that he's not entirely comfortable with the direction of sports betting as it relates to Major League Baseball.
"We’re entering a very delicate and, dare I say, dangerous world here," Clark said on Tuesday. "We hope that it is truly beneficial for our game moving forward and that everyone who is involved benefits from it in one fashion or another."
The MLB has welcomed advertisements of legal sportsbooks with the teams and broadcasts.
Some baseball clubs have taken it a step further. BetMGM opened a retail sportsbook at Nationals Park earlier this year for fans to place bets while attending Washington Nationals games.
Furthermore, DraftKings announced plans to open a retail sportsbook at Wrigley Field next season.
Clark suggested that sportsbooks and the players are now closer than ever.
"When you have players suggest that no sooner was PASPA repealed, that they started to have book houses following them on social media," Clark said. "That gets you a little twitchy pretty quick."
Clark said the MLBPA will continue to work with state lawmakers and state regulators to ensure the players are protected and the integrity of the game stays in tact.
"We’ll continue to pound the pavement in each of the state legislatures that have language in place and those that don’t yet that are potentially coming online, to ensure that as much as anything, our players are protected," Clark said.
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