Legendary Vegas bookmaker Art Manteris urges clear separation of sports and betting
Veteran Las Vegas bookmaker Art Manteris pens a forceful op-ed calling on Congress, states and leagues to rein in sports betting, ban certain prop wagers and enforce a strict divide between play and gambling.
Veteran Las Vegas bookmaker Art Manteris has published a pointed opinion piece urging federal and state lawmakers, as well as sports leagues and collegiate governing bodies, to adopt sweeping reforms aimed at protecting the integrity of athletic competition by reinforcing a firm division between sports participation and sports gambling.
Drawing on more than four decades in the business, including decades running sportsbooks in Las Vegas and serving as a gambling security consultant for the NBA, Manteris argues that America’s rapidly expanding legal sports betting landscape has outpaced both regulatory safeguards and cultural norms, creating fertile ground for corruption, match-fixing, and undue influence.
Scandals Prompting a Call to Action
Manteris’ op-ed comes in the wake of high-profile criminal indictments alleging widespread point shaving involving dozens of current and former college basketball players and at least one former NBA player, a scandal he says validates long-standing warnings about unfettered betting markets.
“In the post-PASPA era,” he writes, referring to the 2018 Supreme Court decision that effectively opened the door to legalized sports wagering nationwide, “all bets are off when it comes to the ability to monitor gambling activity.” Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was a federal law that precluded most states from legalizing sports betting until it was overturned in 2018, freeing states to adopt their own regimes.
Manteris, whose resume includes running books at Caesars Palace, Station Casinos, and other major venues, warns that without meaningful reform, “the future will bring more corruption and scandal.” He stresses that sports regulators, lawmakers, and the public must act now to preserve the credibility of athletic competition and the larger betting ecosystem.
Core Proposals for Reform
In his op-ed, Manteris outlines several policy changes he believes are essential to curb the excesses and vulnerabilities now present in the U.S. sports betting market:
- Prohibit certain types of prop bets, especially individual performance proposition wagers (“prop bets”) in college athletics, a move recently supported by NCAA leadership following betting-related scandals.
- Require licensed sports integrity monitoring services to oversee and flag suspicious activity in both professional and amateur markets.
- Regulate fantasy contests and parlays clearly as forms of gambling subject to licensing and oversight instead of treating them as separate categories.
- Modernize outdated federal statutes, such as the 1961 Wire Act, to reflect modern technology and the realities of interstate wagering.
- Allocate federal wagering tax revenues toward integrity monitoring, underage gambling prevention, and problem-gambling treatment, a change Manteris says is overdue.
He also notes that professional leagues and collegiate bodies once agreed with the idea of keeping a clear divide between play and wagering but that consensus has eroded as betting has proliferated.
Why the Divide Matters, According to Manteris
Manteris emphasizes that gambling and athletic competition are fundamentally incompatible unless properly regulated and structurally separated. He recalls past scandals, including the infamous Tim Donaghy NBA referee betting controversy, as evidence of how betting interests can infiltrate the game and undermine public trust.
He argues that the sheer scale of legalized betting today, made possible by the post-PASPA landscape, requires new safeguards, not simply existing regulatory frameworks stretched beyond their design.
“It’s one thing to legalize wagering,” he writes, “but quite another to ignore the clear systemic risks that come from intertwining sports and gambling without sufficient wall-of-fire protections.”
Reaction and Broader Context
Manteris’ op-ed aligns with growing concerns among sports integrity advocates and some lawmakers who want stricter limits on how betting products are structured, particularly around player-specific wagers in amateur sports.
The NCAA has voiced support for banning certain prop bets in college athletics, arguing that such markets pose undue risk to the integrity of the games. Meanwhile, debates continue at both state and federal levels about whether federal legislation should be introduced to provide a baseline of protections nationwide, including integrity monitoring mandates and restrictions on certain bet types.
Some critics of reform worry that too much restriction could hurt market growth or drive bettors to offshore or unregulated platforms, a perennial regulatory concern. The debate reflects a broader tension in the sports betting space: balancing consumer protection and market integrity with industry growth and accessibility.
A Pivotal Moment for Sports Betting Policy
Art Manteris’ op-ed represents a rare and influential voice calling for structural reform at a time when the U.S. sports betting market is decades into rapid expansion. With firsthand experience in both the business and integrity sides of wagering, his call for a clear separation between athletic competition and gambling powerfully underscores the need for thoughtful policy.
Whether lawmakers and sports governing bodies act on his recommendations, banning risky prop bets, expanding integrity monitoring, modernizing federal law, and earmarking tax revenue for protections, will be a defining issue for the future of sports betting and the preservation of fair play in American sports.
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