Stern eases referee gambling rules

Commissioner David Stern acknowledged Thursday that more than half of his 56 referees had violated NBA policies about casino gambling, but said none will be punished because he felt the rules were outdated.

Instead, Stern said he is altering the policies, leaning toward allowing referees to gamble in casinos during the off-season -- except for betting in sports books.

The league’s strict gambling policies toward referees became public after the Tim Donaghy scandal. The NBA currently prevents its officials from entering the gaming area of a casino, or doing any betting at all except for going to race tracks during the off-season.

But Stern admitted he did a poor job of enforcing the policies, and with views toward gambling changing, decided he wouldn’t “penalize people for behavior that I’m about to change.”

“It’s too easy to issue rules that are on their faith violated by $5 Nassau, sitting at a poker table, buying a lottery ticket and then we can move along,” Stern said. “And by the time I got through and I determined going into a casino isn’t a capital offense . . . I’m the CEO of the NBA and I’ll take responsibility.”

Stern ordered a review of the league’s officiating program after Donaghy pleaded guilty to betting on games he worked and providing information to others to help them win bets. Though the review is not completed, it has sparked some changes.

Stern said the league probably will begin listing the names of the crew of referees the morning of the game, and steps will be taken to admit when officiating mistakes were made.