Sports wagering is now legal in Ohio. If it wasn’t, Bernie Kosar would still have a relationship with the Browns.
The team severed ties with Kosar after he acknowledged on social media that he placed a legal $19,000 bet on the Browns to beat the Steelers, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Kosar, a former Browns quarterback, tweeted that the Browns told him “my services are no longer desired or needed.” Kosar added that he’s “shocked and disappointed,” and that “Orange and brown is my life.”
Kosar shouldn’t be surprised. The NFL doesn’t mess around with gambling. Jaguars receiver Calvin Ridley has found out the hard way. Jets receivers coach Miles Austin has found out the hard way.
Kosar is the first non-player and non-coach to be attached to a gambling-related consequence. The real question is whether it would have been an issue if he didn’t make it known.
And the deeper problem is that the NFL profits significantly from its relationships with sports books that its employees are strictly prohibited from utilizing.
