Buffalo News
Buffalo Bills great Jim Kelly has endorsed products ranging from pain relievers to phone service to pizza in his career as a celebrity spokesperson. But his latest business relationship has raised some eyebrows.
The Hall of Fame quarterback has lent his name to an Internet sports gambling site called SportsInteraction.com.
"I have always been involved with the best of the best, and am proud to be associated with Sports Interaction, the best in online sports books," says Kelly on the Web site.
Kelly is among an increasing number of celebrities who have signed endorsement deals with online casinos or sports books. They include actors Tom Arnold and James Woods, former basketball player Dennis Rodman and model Brooke Burke. Former basketball players Julius Erving and Moses Malone have lent their names to poker tournaments sponsored by online casinos.
The association could be considered risky business. The position of the U.S. government is that such Internet sports books are violating American law by providing unlicensed gambling on domestic shores. The government has stated that it could prosecute Americans who promote and assist such foreign operations for what amounts to aiding and abetting their illegal activities.
However, it is not believed that the U.S. government ever has pursued a case against any endorser of such a business.
Some of the popular sites are located in Costa Rica. The Sports Interaction firm is located in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, a Native American reserve near Montreal, Canada.
A spokesperson for Kelly Enterprise said neither Kelly nor the company would have any comment on the subject. A source close to Kelly said the former quarterback sees nothing wrong with the connection.
Internet gambling is a multibillion-dollar business, the popularity of which has skyrocketed with the advent of poker games on cable television. Overseas casinos are legal and licensed in dozens of foreign countries. Some casinos in Great Britain are listed on public stock exchanges.
If Kelly was still an active player in the National Football League, he would not be allowed to endorse any gambling operation, under league policy.
Some celebrities have out-clauses in their contracts with the casinos should the U.S. Justice Department pursue their association. Kelly told the New York Times that when he signed the contract, he was told he would be held harmless for any legal problems.
"I would never do anything that would jeopardize my name and what I do and what I stand for," Kelly told the Times.
A veteran prosecutor from Buffalo who is an expert in federal gambling laws said he does not know whether SportsInteraction.com is, or ever has been under investigation.
But the prosecutor - Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony M. Bruce - said he has won convictions against the operators of offshore, online sports betting casinos, including one in Costa Rica.
"For the person who is betting, it's not illegal," Bruce said. "But for the person who is running an offshore bookmaking operation on the Internet, it violates both New York State and federal laws."
In February 2001, Frank Masterana, 71, pleaded guilty in Buffalo to a felony gambling conspiracy count. He was sentenced to a year in prison. Bruce said Masterana was involved with people in Buffalo, running a Costa Rica-based sports book that claimed it was legal for people in Western New York to bet on sports over the Internet.
"These operations set up offshore, hoping to distance themselves from American law enforcement, but it's illegal activity," Bruce said.
Are celebrity endorsers like Kelly ever indicted in such cases?
"I'm not aware of any cases where celebrity endorsers have been charged, but I couldn't totally rule it out," Bruce said. "If you participate in a criminal activity in any way, you could possibly expose yourself to a prosecution under federal conspiracy laws."
News staff reporter Dan Herbeck contributed to this report.
