NBA Refs Off the Hook?

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Dan_ref

Exactly.

And what problem does it prevent?

The perception problem that Joe Average Fan who spends 10 minutes a month thinking about this might lump casual gambler officials in with mobbed-up gambling addicts.

IOW it's a PR issue.

Actually, I think that the NBA is more concerned with associations that you might make if you frequent gambling establishments. There is also a concern about officials getting deep in debt to someone and having to do a "favor" to someone in order to get out of debt.

I think that the NBA needs to distinguish for its officials the line between betting $20 on the slots in Vegas or losing/winning a few hundred at blackjack and wagering thousands of dollars on table games and betting on sports... they are not the same.

Personally, I think that the NBA has completely won the PR war on this one... It's amazing how much of a NON-issue Donaghy has been in the media. It's almost as if all the fans collectively said, "Yeah -- see, told you so." and then went about their business.