Adam Silver, commissioner of North America's National Basketball Association (NBA) league, has reiterated his stance on the legalisation of sports betting in the US, stating wider regulation of such activities would be "good for business".

As reported by iGaming Business, Silver in September last year said struggling state budgets and a wider acceptance of gambling by US citizens would lead to a wider legalised sports betting market across the country.

In November, Silver used an opinion piece in the New York Times newspaper to issue a call for the US to adopt a different system in order to benefit from a market that is mainly operated underground in the country due to current sports betting laws.

At present, Nevada is the only state in the US that accommodates regulated sports betting, which limits punters to placing legal bets in Nevada or forcing them to illegal, underground operations outside of the state – the latter option meaning the US misses out on millions of dollars in tax.

Silver, whose calls for an overhaul of the current rules have been backed by other figures in the professional sports industry, said during an interview on US television that he has spoken to other commissioners about such a move and that wider regulation would be "good for business" for the NBA and the US.

"I did speak to all the other commissioners," Silver said during an interview on Boomer & Carton.

"There was a range of reactions. Some were, 'What are you doing?' Others were, 'Let's study it, seems like an interesting idea.'

"And that is not that we're necessarily out there promoting sports betting, but the latest estimate is there's somewhere between $300 billion (€2813 billion) and $400 billion a year being bet on sports in this country."

"It's good for business, I don't want to hide from that.

"Putting aside whether or not we're actually actively involved in any of the betting, it creates more engagement.

"We all know as fans if you have, even like a gentleman's bet or a $5 bet with your friend on a game, all of a sudden you're a lot more interested."

Silver also stated that due to the amount of data collected and monitored by sports leagues in the country, this would enable them to keep track of betting activity and flag up any issues.

"Because they have all that data, they're able to monitor it," Silver said.

"And if there's any irregular activity whatsoever, it's like tracking insider trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

"If there's a blip, if there's unusual activity, they know to investigate.

"So, first the issue for us is if all this betting is going to go on anyway, we should be able to monitor it.

"And then, if all this betting activity is going to go on anyway, make it legal."

This is a reprint from igamingbusiness.com. to view the original, click here.