Sports bettors in US named Most Influential in sports business for 2018

Who was the most influential person in sports business in 2018?

Turns out, it was you.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, FOX Sports CEO Eric Shanks, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred all paled in comparison to “The American Sports Gambler” in 2018, according to Sports Business Daily’s annual list.

Here is what Sports Business Daily’s Bill King wrote regarding the decision to give the nod to sports bettors.

“For those years that the leagues opposed gambling, a bet was something that was placed at a sportsbook, likely in a casino and almost always before the start of a game. A bet placed today most likely will be placed not at a casino, but through an app on a mobile device. That means the American Sports Gambler can place a bet at a stadium or an arena, or from a recliner at home. And those bets aren’t all placed before the game. Mobile wagering has allowed for the development of in-play betting, which allows for wagers on chunks of a game – whether a team will score on a drive in football or in an inning in baseball – or even on an individual, micro-sized outcome, like who will score the next bucket, or the speed of a the next pitch.

Proponents in sports envision fans spending the bulk of a game betting $5 or $10 at a time, perhaps dozens of times a game, from their seats or their sofas.

“The industry’s approach changed because American Sports Gamblers changed. It’s betting big that they’re about to change even more.”

Here is the top 15 of Sports Business Daily’s list.

1. The American Sports Gambler

2. Adam Silver

3. Roger Goodell

4. Eric Shanks

5. Rob Monfred

6. David Levy

7. Casey Wasserman

8. Mark Parker

9. Joe Lacob/Peter Guber

10. Gary Bettman