American sports spent more than a century keeping gambling as far away as possible, in the name of preserving competitive purity and repelling scandal and corruption.
Now, less than six years after the Supreme Court opened the door for states to embrace legal sports betting, major U.S. leagues are already confronting the darker sides of sports betting with alarming frequency. And at the heart of the problems is the population whose ability to bet on sports is the most severely curbed: the athletes themselves.
The past two weeks alone have seen players across the major professional and college leagues drawn into a building avalanche of gambling scandals that showed just how perilous the new landscape has become.
Earlier this month, the National Basketball Association fielded complaints from players and a head coach about betting’s growing influence and its potential dangers. Days later, Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter became the subject of a league investigation of alleged suspicious betting activity. The National Football League, meanwhile, suspended 10 players for betting just last year.
The controversies have extended into the collegiate ranks as well. In the buildup to March Madness—the biggest sports-betting event in America—the Temple University men’s basketball team was flagged by prominent gambling watchdog firm U.S. Integrity for suspicious wagering activity on its games.
My state taxes gambling and marijuana. They are profiting from addiction and misery rather than trying to stop it. Then they wonder why property crime is soaring.
BTW - when do they start sponsoring prostitution? How is organized crime going to stay in business with our state horning in?
@NeedfulCardinalVeteran4wks4W
Wow. Next we'll hear how legalizing drugs has led to an increase in drug abuse.
Gee, this is shocking. I thought widespread gambling would be great for society.
I think it's assumed that OK-ing any vice, not matter what it is, will have some negative effects. But the rationales for approving (and taxing) it are:
a. People are going to do it anyway. Or, as someone once said, you can't legislate morality.
b. The positive effects, and personal responsibility, are at least equal to the negative effects. For example, of a state runs a lottery (called a "tax on the poor") and uses the proceeds to provide transportation for seniors' medical care, is that justified? I dunno, but it is a reasonable argument.
@L3ftWingLunaSocialist4wks4W
Since the dawn of time, states prohibited gambling because they knew how destructive it could be to individuals and families. Then, the states figured out how they could get a large piece ("their piece") of the action. So, the states not only legalize gambling, they legalize on-line live gambling, so its citizens can bet on anything and everything every waking moment. Voila, families and individuals are ruined and competitive sports are bastardized. Organized crime only wishes it could be corrupt as our governments. Resist.
@NeedfulDuckDemocrat4wks4W
I just find it so difficult to believe that people can be so stupid. Of course when you normalize gambling or drugs and any other destructive vice, you will have problems. Campaigns like "drink responsibly". Really??? How dumb can people be? I get it... money rules. But this unbridled greed that we are experiencing is destroying us.
What I hate is that sports coverage (radio and TV) has become gambling coverage. They even do in-game updates of the odds! As someone who does not bet, it distracts from my enjoyment of the game.
@JaguarHarryLibertarian4wks4W
I don't drink beer, but sit through the plethora of beer commercials. We're all victims, but we all have choices.
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