The tobacco industry was notorious for co-opting trusted health experts to vouch for the safety of smoking. Today’s gambling giants are deploying a similar strategy, and Whyte is perhaps the most egregious example, considering he’s leveraging his reputation as NCPG’s longtime leader to advance the interests of sports betting corporations. Some former colleagues feel betrayed. Americans have legally wagered more than $650 billion since that Supreme Court decision, and nearly half of bettors say they’ve felt ashamed after losing a bet. Evidence is piling up of legalization causing more bankruptcies, lower credit scores, and surges in gambling addiction, putting the industry on the defensive more than ever. Recruiting former critics like Whyte is a powerful tool for sustaining the betting business’s meteoric growth.
Asked why he’d endorsed Minnesota’s sports betting bill while failing to disclose his ties to SBA, Whyte demurred, “I don’t think I was involved in any of that.” I then sent him the Minnesota op-ed to jog his memory, and he conceded he should have disclosed working for SBA. Later, I asked why he’d supported that bill, proposed by state Senator Nick Frentz, as opposed to one from Marty, which included significantly more aggressive consumer protections, such as banning wagering at stadiums, prohibiting misleading “risk-free” promotions, and requiring sportsbooks to intervene if customers exhibit potential signs of addiction—all issues Whyte has expressed concern about in the past.
Whyte said he considered Frentz’s bill more “pragmatic.” But, he added, “Part of the issue was, of course, the industry was behind Frentz’s bill, and that’s the group that I’m working with—the online sportsbook operators.”
