Winner – The Center for Public Integrity: The NBA and MLB quietly hustle for a cut of the sports betting jackpot
- Contributors – Rui Kaneya
- Judges’ Comments – The work, which detailed how Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association sought to get a piece of the sports betting game, was impressive, deftly combining local reporting with national scope. The influence campaign was waged by an army of lobbyists employing a playbook that was used across the country — strong reporting that relied on digging into lobbying and legislative records, analyzing political donations and examining the work of special interest groups. With investigative rigor, Rui Kaneya showed how sports leagues influenced legislation in multiple states, including how their model language made its way into bills in seven states. He detailed the extent of the lobbying game by the leagues, like the monthly bill in New York to retain 21 lobbyists. Above all, he brought fresh insight to a well-covered topic, explaining the scramble in states after the Supreme Court cleared the way to legalize sports betting.
