Oregon Ignores NBA; Basketball in Betting Game

The Oregon Lottery Commission decided unanimously today to add professional basketball to its Sports Action betting game.

The commission brushed aside a threat by NBA Commissioner David Stern, who said last week that the league will file suit if the state went ahead with its plans.

Stern argued that including the NBA in the contest would compromise the integrity of the sport and make fans more concerned with point spreads than with the game of basketball.

But Lottery Commissioner Michael Schwartz said such contentions were not well founded.

“To our knowledge there are no facts to substantiate these concerns,” Schwartz said.

He said the NBA has done nothing to stop large-scale sports gambling in Nevada.

Lottery Commissioner Delbert Hayes said the commission received a mandate from the Legislature to generate money for college athletic programs with new lottery games.

Hayes said it would be “splitting hairs” to differentiate the planned NBA betting game from the existing Sports Action betting on the outcome of National Football League games.

Oregon is the only state operating a lottery-sponsored betting game based on the outcome of professional sports.

The Portland Trail Blazers will not be included in the new game. Lottery Director Jim Davey said the Blazers were being left out as a courtesy. The NBA Sports Action game is expected to begin in early January, with wagering allowed on 16 games a week, he said.

He said the lottery’s public opinion surveys indicated that about two-thirds of those playing the football version of Sports Action will play the professional basketball contest.

Davey has said the Oregon lottery is ready to defend its action in court.

He noted that a court in Delaware has ruled that a sports betting contest like Sports Action is a game of chance and therefore falls under the lottery category.

The Oregon game, the first of its kind in the country, allows people to wager at least $1 on three to 14 NFL games. To win, a person must pick all games correctly against point spreads set by a Las Vegas odds maker.

Since the game began in early September, sales have totaled $5 million, with $1.9 million distributed to help fund intercollegiate sports at the state’s colleges and universities.

Davey has estimated that the NBA game will generate $3.5 million. He said the game will begin in January in conjunction with the NFL playoffs.

On Nov. 20, Stern came to Salem to argue his case at a commission meeting. He told the group that the game would make every questionable play come under suspicion.

The NBA Players Assn. and several members of the Trail Blazers have also come out strongly against the Sports Action proposal.