The first Super Bowl to be held in the sports betting capital of the United States offers many things. Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas can be viewed as a the NFL’s public report card of sorts as it tries to keep pace with the ever-changing wagering landscape.
“We'are'always going to'be'concerned'about'game'integrity'and'we’re'always going to be concerned about the risks associated with any city as we prepare for a Super Bowl as we are here,” said Jeff Miller, Executive Vice President of NFL Communications. “While Las Vegas is a symbol because it’s had sports gambling for quite some time, it’s also a very sophisticated city and mature city as it r elates to engagement with the NFL and other sports at this point that makes us very comfortable playing a game there.”'
Miller and NFL General Manager of Sports Betting David Highhill touched on multiple sports-betting related subjects in a teleconference with media including responsible gambling, enforcement of policies on all league personnel beyond players, finding a balance of the volume of sports betting advertisements without oversaturating the airwaves, and the need for constant transparency as it relates to the integrity of the game itself.
180-degree turn from pre-PASPA days
Though the sixth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court striking down PASPA is still months away, there was a time the NFL was adamantly against sports betting becoming legal on a state-by-state basis. Previous NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was a supporter of PASPA as it was being drafted in the early 1990s by then-New Jersey senator Bill Bradley, and current Commissioner Roger Goodell testified against legal betting on NFL games in 2012.