I love watching “Inside the NBA” with Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. Watching them bicker about players and teams is great — but watching them talk about what they’re betting on with FanDuel makes me very unhappy.
Sports betting has become so pervasive that it’s now being advertised during professional games, and people are going into debt because of it.
In the 38 states, including Illinois, that have legalized sports betting, bankruptcies have increased 28% and debt transferred to debt collectors climbed up 8%.
Sports betting was made legal in 2018, when the Supreme Court ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which outlawed sports betting, was unconstitutional. Thirty-eight states have since legalized sports betting, though there are some moves to regulate an industry that made $11 billion last year alone.
During the last Super Bowl alone, 68 million Americans were expected to wager $23.1 billion dollars, up from $16 billion last year. That would mean each person was betting an average of $339.70.
Hearing people talk about betting is tarnishing my love for sports. I have grown up watching many nail-biting games, and I have moments when I get mad at my favorite team, as a sports fan should. But seeing sports bettors get mad over losing their own money is quite annoying.
There are many sports betting sites like FanDuel and DraftKings that run advertisements during professional sports games, especially the NFL and NBA.
CBC’s Marketplace and British researchers at the University of Bristol found betting messages fill up to 21% of each sports broadcast, on average. I cannot remember the last time I watched an NBA or NFL game without a sports betting ad.
Wrigley Field built a DraftKings Sportsbook bar that sticks out like a sore thumb next to the ballpark. The bigger the logo, the more people pay attention, which means that DraftKings will get more money.
While I hear most sports fans talking about sports betting, it’s crazy when I hear betting scandals come out with professional sports players. There have been many of these scandals that have come out within the past few years of players betting on their own teams.
Jontay Porter, an NBA player who had a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors, was banned from the NBA for violating league rules. He gave out confidential information about his team to sports bettors and he even bet on his own team.
Pete Rose, the MLB’s all-time hits leader who died recently, was banned from the MLB in 1989 and the Hall of Fame for a betting scandal.
Many people might argue, “Well, Michael Jordan was betting too!” The difference with his betting is that he never bet against his own team or gave any sports bettors confidential information — or did he? Jordan liked to bet on card games or other sports, especially golf. Now there is some speculation that he may have bet on one or two of his own games, back in the day.
Michael Jordan is a billionaire, so of course he can make bets here and there. While I’m not a billionaire like him, I make bets like he does. For example, I do five dollar bets with my dad every once in a while to see what Chicago Bulls player will get injured next. I would say that is different because it’s a silly bet and I won’t get mad if I lose money or not. It’s only five dollars, not my whole life savings.
There’s other downsides to all this.
For one, the NCAA conducted a study and found abuse by “angry sports bettors” is one of the most common types of harassment college athletes receive. Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne shared that bettors have asked him for money via Venmo.
I thought all of the sports betting would be left in the professional men’s games, but sadly not. It now trickles into the professional women’s games, which is frustrating. People may say that it’ll get people to watch women’s sports, but I would rather have no betting and fewer fans than betting and more fans.
If sports bettors hear the other things they can bet on, it’ll make them want to watch the games and bet more money. I don’t think it’s worth it, because these sports bettors will yell at more players who don’t deserve to get yelled at.
Sadly, I don’t think sports betting will be gone any time soon because it’s too accepted nowadays. Sports are fun because of their unpredictability, but it’s not fun when bettors blame players. Why blame players for doing their jobs? You should blame yourself for throwing away your own money.
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