US sports leagues split on how to monetize sports betting

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – America’s major professional sports leagues are split on how to get a piece of the action from legal sports betting after failing to get early adopting states to cut them in.

But they are back in the game this year with several state legislatures considering granting them fees from sports bets.

The National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League fought to stop the spread of sports gambling for years. But they retrenched in their positions after a key loss — a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that granted New Jersey and other states the option to allow wagering.

Thus far, no state has approved the 0.25 per cent fee that baseball and basketball want from the total of all bets made on their sports.

Leagues have separately contracted with individual gambling companies to monetize league data and logos.

___

Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

___

Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports