This weekend, LeBron James of the NBA’s LA Lakers retweeted an offshore sports betting site despite the NBA’s stance on legal sports betting.
James shared a video from MyBookie, an offshore sports betting site that operates in Curacao. The video shows Mike Trout of the MLB’s Los Angeles Angels stepping up to the plate.
The video references the recent news that Trout has signed a contract with the Angels worth $426.5m over a 12-year period.
At the time of writing, James’ retweet has received 55,924 likes and been retweeted more than 7,814 times. However, it is not clear if James was paid for the retweet.
Dustin Gouker, Managing Director of Legal Sports Report tweeted: “LeBron James is retweeting an offshore sportsbook. I give up. I guess you need to do better education, NBA.”
Sara Slane, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at the American Gaming Association echoed Gouker’s viewpoint tweeting, “Thank you! Ridiculous!”
As James has more than 42 million Twitter followers, a single retweet from him could help increase the profile of any company whether it is operating legally or illegally.
This highlights the importance of education around sports betting and safe gambling as more states continue to expand their gambling laws.
In January the NBA announced that it would be doubling down on its policy in regard to gambling amid the spread of legal sports betting in the US.
In an interview with ESPN, the NBA’s Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said that the NBA was taking steps to prioritize education on sports betting amongst its players, teams and fans.
