However, plans have been met with a mixed response from professional leagues in the country. National Basketball Association (NBA) commissioner Adam Silver has said he would be open to the idea of expansion, while NFL American football league chief Roger Goodell last week reiterated his opposition.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance in February, Manfred said the league was "re-examining” its opposition to sports betting, and the commissioner has now told ESPN Radio that he has commenced talks with MLB franchise owners over the possibility of wider legalisation.
"I think Adam [Silver] has done a nice job of making people aware that the landscape on sports gambling is changing around us, has changed dramatically,” Manfred said. "And in part in response to his comments but in response to just general developments in the area, we’ve begun a conversation with the owners. It’s educational at the begging, in the sense in that sports gambling has changed a lot; I mean, you know the old division of betting illegally with a bookie somewhere is not today’s world.”
Manfred added: "We’ve begun a conversation educating people about what’s out there, what sports leagues in other countries have done, in an effort to make sure Major League Baseball is ready to join in what I think is going to be a dialogue about how sports gambling regulation in the US should be changed.”
Source: GMB / igamingbusiness.com
