LTE: Sports betting

Regarding “Leagues not prepared to go all in” (Page C8, Tuesday), the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal law that limited wagering on sports events puts Major League Baseball team owners in an interesting position. The article reports that MLB is “in favor of a state or federal ‘integrity fee’ that would transfer some gambling revenues from casinos to the leagues.”

Wise guys from the mob era called that “a piece of the action” and, apparently, the people who banned Pete Rose for life because he bet on baseball games now think it’s OK to do that, as long as they get their “piece.”

These are the same hypocrites, by the way, who enabled the criminal distribution and consumption of steroids by league players because the eye-popping offensive stats of the likes of Barry Bonds kept fan interest high and the money flowing in.

The bottom line — and it’s always about the bottom line for these guys — is that if they profit, it’s OK. For everybody else, and particularly Pete Rose, they got standards.

Pete Smith, Cypress