Before the Raiders decided to move to Las Vegas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones downplayed gambling concerns saying, “the entertainment aspect outweighs gambling concerns.” But some, including former Raider Ronnie Lott, do continue to worry about having sports books only a few miles away.
“What I’m nervous about is I just don’t want our game to get tarnished,” Lott told Zig Fracassi and Adam Caplan on SiriusXM’s NFL Rewind. “And what I mean by that is that there are characteristics that allowed all of us to want to play this game at the highest level. And I remember, when I first came in the league, there were certain things that you could not do, and that was you could not have any gaming activities.
“Being so close to it, knowing that there are professionals that are in that community, it’s going to be very challenging. People say, ‘Ah, Ronnie, that’s all [places].’ But this isn’t Vegas. They gamble all over the world, that’s right, but there’s professional people that do this for a living every day.”
Lott, a Hall of Famer who played for the Raiders for two seasons, otherwise calls the team’s move to Las Vegas “a great opportunity.”