Online sportsbooks sure seem to have a stranglehold on the National Football League. Ever since the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports gambling in 2018, sportsbooks have dominated football discourse. Podcasts and studio shows spend endless hours dissecting money lines, points spreads and parlays. You can hardly watch a football telecast today without Kevin Hart screaming at you about bonus bets. 

When Super Bowl 60 kicks off next month in Santa Clara, expect to see the Manning brothers’ FanDuel ads, TV segments with NBC Sports betting analyst Matthew Berry and countless influencers milling around Levi’s Stadium’s Cache Creek Casino Resort Field Club. 

With the NFL’s recent wholesale embrace of online betting, it’s easy to forget that it was a gambling scandal that took down the most beloved non-player in San Francisco 49ers history.

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Eddie DeBartolo Jr. started out as a nepo baby. His father, Eddie DeBartolo Sr., was the leading developer of America’s shopping malls and had become a business titan. When the 49ers came up for sale in 1977, DeBartolo Sr. bought the team for $13 million — and gave it to Eddie Jr., who was 30 at the time.

San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. is seen victorious on the field after winning the Super Bowl vs. Denver Broncos at the Superdome in New Orleans. 

To many league insiders’ surprise, DeBartolo’s Niners turned into a dynasty: 13 NFC West titles, five Super Bowls, eternal NFL greats like Bill Walsh, Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice, and “The Catch,” perhaps the defining play in American football history. 

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Through all these triumphs, “Eddie D,” as he was affectionately called by players and fans, became immensely popular. In the pre-salary cap era, the 49ers frequently had the league’s highest payroll, earning many complaints from

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