As gambling, especially sports betting, expands in the states, the NBA is spending less and less money trying to lobby Congress.
Records show that Major League Baseball and the NFL will each spend about $300,000 each on lobbying Congress. Whereas the NBA is spending a $5,000 to engage the services of sports lobbyist Phil Hochberg, who represents several professional leagues.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass explained why in an email: “As necessary and appropriate, the NBA engages with government officials and speaks publicly regarding matters that affect our sport.” He added, “In Washington, we have found that members of both parties are open to hearing our point of view directly.”
The most recent large expenditure by the NBA to influence Congress was in 2015, on a variety of issues, but then former commissioner David Stern retired and his successor Adam Silver appears to have prompted a change in strategy. It is a change that nobody is really willing to talk about.
The end of big spending in Washington appears to have been the beginning of big spending in state capitals, especially since 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal ban on sports betting.
From 2019-2020 the NBA spent $138,581 Connecticut lawmakers, and $142,,875 to do the same in Massachusetts. Both states have been working on sports betting legislation, and Connecticut just reached a deal with its gaming tribes that allows its expansion.
