GiGse Conference: NBA to Discuss Sportsbetting

Media reports have revealed that America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) will talk about the US sports betting market at GiGse, an annual igaming conference, this April. The NBA’s involvement has been promoted as the organisations sharing its perspectives of sports betting, an activity that is widely illegal in the US.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver essentially set up the discussion when he openly declared in late 2014 that sports betting should be legalised across the US. The NBA’s representative for the discussion will be Dan Spillane, who performs the roles of vice president and assistant general counsel, while moderation will be undertaken by legal specialist Jeff Ifrah.

A Call for Legalisation in US

The session has been titled as “Understanding the Evolving Stance of Sports Leagues on Legalisation of Sports Betting”. Ahead of the discussion, Ifrah highlighted that the “NBA is the professional league in the US to say that sports betting should be legalised”. He also pointed out that US sporting organisations have traditionally opposed the legalisation of betting on such activities.

Ifrah has a track record in applying his legal skills in igaming. His intention is to prepare the NBA to take the lead in legalising sports betting for the purpose of protecting consumers and the game itself by stamping out illegal gambling.

To that end, Ifrah has pre-recorded interviews with current NBA players who are advocating legalisation. Interviews have also been conducted with players from England’s Premier League football competition to highlight that integrity is not a concern.

NBA at GiGse 2015

GiGse is a conference that was founded in 2010 for the purpose of bringing together igaming professionals to discuss US prospects. This year’s event will be hosted at the Hyatt Regency in California from 20-22 April 2015. The NBA discussion itself will be hosted on Tuesday 21 April from 10:00-10:45.