A sports league’s official betting is a bet on games or events sanctioned by the organization. It can include wagers on regular season, playoff, or championship games. It can also be on specific teams or on player-based props. It is common for these bets to have a negative house edge (vigorish) built into them.
Sports governing bodies are working to ensure that fans can place responsible wagers by beefing up in-house technology, deploying security personnel, and partnering with integrity firms. However, this is not a foolproof system of preventing gambling-related corruption. For example, in 1919, Joseph Sullivan paid eight members of the Chicago White Sox—Oscar Felsch, Arnold Gandil, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Charles Risberg, George Weaver, and Claude Williams—around 10,000 dollars each to fix the World Series. The players were banned for life from the sport.
PURDUM: Since the Supreme Court ruling on sports betting, it has changed a lot in the industry. In a way, it’s almost like they did a 180 and now they’re really embracing it in a big way by partnering with bookmakers.
The NHL was the first major sports league to have a team in Nevada, when the Vegas Golden Knights began play in 2017. The league has also signed sponsorship deals with William Hill and MGM Resorts International that include betting partnerships. However, the NHL has not formally taken a position on sports betting. Its commissioner has said that the league is smaller than the NBA and NFL, so it is less vulnerable to issues that could impact those organizations.