NBA Files Suit Against Oregon Lottery

PORTLAND, Ore. — The NBA filed a lawsuit Thursday attempting to stop the Oregon Lottery from including professional basketball in its Sports Action betting game.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, contends that the Oregon game violates federal anti-gambling statutes and the Oregon constitution. It also contends that point-spread betting on NBA games is unfair commercial exploitation of the league’s property rights and an infringement on the trademarks of the league and its teams.

The lottery commission voted unanimously Dec. 11 to add the NBA to the NFL in the Sports Action contest, and is scheduled to begin including NBA games in January.

Gary Bettman, the NBA’s senior vice president and general counsel, said that when Oregon voters approved a lottery in 1984 “they didn’t contemplate sports betting. The lottery is something you pick by numbers, by chance, not on the basis of athletic competition.”