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NASCAR will add rules to clarify its gambling policy next season

NASCAR Dover Auto Racing

Fans line up next to a tent kiosk for legalized sports betting at the Dover International Speedway before the NASCAR Cup series auto race, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018, in Dover, Del. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

AP

DOVER, Del. – In the wake of Dover International Speedway becoming the first track to make on-site betting available this weekend, NASCAR will add rules clarifying its policy for competitors next year.

Though NASCAR employees are prohibited from betting on races, the NASCAR rulebook doesn’t explicitly outlaw betting by drivers or team members.

“I think for ’19 we’ll have some rules that we’ll put in place,” NASCAR president Steve Phelps said Sunday after the drivers meeting for Sunday’s Cup race. “For right now, there’ll be betting here. We’ll study and see how that goes, but I think we’ll have some rules in place for sponsorship, for what betting looks like and continue to see what happens in the landscape overall.”

Asked if there would be new rulebook language in regards to drivers and team members betting, Phelps said, “I imagine we’ll get there. The way the rulebook looks today, I think the teams and the drivers understand what it looks like, and I think we’ll clarify for ’19 with more specific language in it.”

Dover opened a betting kiosk Saturday morning in its FanZone, offering several proposition bets on the race and winning odds for drivers in the field. Fans also could bet on myriad other professional sports after Delaware became the first of many states to legalize sports betting or consider it because of a Supreme Court ruling in May.

“We’re looking very hard at what the future of sports betting is going to look like for our sport as all sports are,” Phelps said. “From a sponsorship standpoint, I think sponsorship will definitely (bring) betting houses and different opportunities in sports betting. They’ll gravitate to NASCAR as most sponsors do because of the return on the investment they can get because of the visibility that it has.”