Last week, Mike Colbert’s arrest was big news. I commented about it pretty extensively in a few places, but I didn’t have time until yesterday to pull my thoughts together and put them down in one place. The result is a Vegas Seven blog post:
The arrest last week of 25 people—including Cantor Gaming’s sports book manager Mike Colbert—in a national sports betting bust triggered a firestorm of commentary, most of it focused on the calamitous effect Colbert’s arrest would have on a range of issues, from Cantor’s future in Nevada to the pending efforts to legalize sports betting in New Jersey (and, ultimately, other states). Certainly, the arrest of a major figure in a major Nevada sports betting company on a gaming-related charge is a black eye for the industry, but I don’t believe it’s the game-changer that others seem to think it is. Here’s why.
via Colbert Arrest Highlights Hypocrisy of Prohibition | Vegas Seven.
I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to handicap Colbert’s chances at trial or guess what’s going to happen specifically to Cantor, because 1) I’m not a lawyer and 2) there’s too much information that’s not known yet. Instead, I’m talking about the bigger social and political impact that the arrests might have.
There are illegal sports betting arrests happening all the time, which makes it clear that a lot of people are betting illegally. With so many other forms of gambling legalized, there comes a time when you have to ask: couldn’t law enforcement resources be better utilized investigating other forms of crime?