America's professional leagues talk about sheltering their sports and athletes from the dangers of gambling, but a New Jersey congressman says he suspects the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball are more interested in protecting profits than players.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) says the leagues' ownership ties to daily fantasy sports web sites suggests money, not morality, drives their opposition to legalized sports gambling.

As anybody who has watched an NFL game this season already knows, web sites such as FanDuel and DraftKings have spent millions of dollars on TV advertising in recent weeks, and Pallone wants to know why the leagues are OK with allowing fans to risk their cash on the performances of individual players but deeply opposed to state-sanctioned gambling on the outcome of a game.

"What it has essentially done is carve out a way for the leagues and teams to do sports betting or gambling where they are the only ones that make any money," Pallone said during a panel discussion at Manhattan's Hill Country Barbeque sponsored by the International Centre for Sport Security.

New Jersey voters voted to repeal a federal prohibition on sports gambling in 2014, and Pallone said money raised by the state through legal wagering could be used to benefits schools and education. The four professional leagues and the NCAA successfully went to court to keep gambling illegal in the state, although the appeals process has not been exhausted yet.

"That is why they are for the fantasy sports, because they are making the money. They don't want the state to make the money," Pallone said.

The leagues have been strongly opposed to legal and illegal gambling for decades, claiming that sports wagering could tempt players to throw games and undermine the integrity of their games.

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