Stern open to legalized NBA betting

[The Buzz]

NBA Commissioner David Stern had a revealing interview with CNNSI last week where he opened up on a variety of topics, including zone defense, global expansion and gambling. Of course, the last topic is the one that most piqued Buzzy's interests.

Stern said that legalized gambling on the NBA could be a "possibility" that "may be a huge opportunity."

"We used [the Donaghy revelations] as an opportunity to get better, to coordinate with law enforcement and go through a variety of processes that I don't necessarily want to detail publicly, but you are on ready alert," he said. "And we're mindful of what can happen, because we're more-than-interested bystanders in the European football scandal. Two-hundred [soccer] games are being looked at by law enforcement across the continent. It's fascinating to see what's happening. And we're mindful of the cricket [2007 World Cup match-fixing] issues, of the football referees in Germany -- there's a lot going on."

Then he made a new point. "The betting issues are actually going to become more intense as states in the U.S. and governments in the world decide that the answers to all of their monetary shortfalls are the tax that is gambling."

[Anthony]

That is a huge turnaround. Guess they could use some extra cash, now. When times were good it was a crazy idea, now that things have slowed down. It is suddenly acceptable. All about the money...