Regulated sports betting would cause certain chaos for Massachusetts colleges and universities, according to a recently published letter from those same schools. The letter, which was published in the Harvard Crimson, is an impassioned plea to halt the spread of regulated sports betting because of the potential damage it could cause to student-athletes. It also, quite disingenuously, suggests that keeping those athletes safe from the wiles of legal sports betting would be a financial burden to Massachusetts schools.
Sports betting, it should be noted, is not currently legal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but lawmakers are seriously considering it as a means of easing the burdens brought on by reduced tax revenues. The universities that signed the letter, which include Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, Holy Cross, Merrimack College, Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts, acknowledge this fact, but want the Commonwealth to take a different track.
“We recognize that during the current difficult economic climate, the Legislature desires to develop new sources of revenue, including sports wagering. But like other states, Massachusetts can gain those benefits without legalizing college sports betting. Such a limitation is necessary to safeguard the longstanding distinctive role and contribution of student-athletes as well as to preserve the integrity of intercollegiate athletics in the Commonwealth,” they said.
What the universities don’t do, however, is offer any real guidance for coming up with the projected $50 million in tax revenues that regulated sports betting (on college and professional play) would generate. Perhaps Harvard would be willing to put some portion of its roughly $40 billion endowment towards the greater cause of protecting student athletes from the dangers of regulated gambling?