Random Thoughts on Sports Gambling

For anyone who knows me, it’s no surprise I’m a sports fan. I play hockey and love watching Baseball, Hockey, and Football. The one thing that I now have to constantly deal with watching sports are the constant ads for sports gambling and sports books. I’d seriously be willing to pay a nominal fee for a feed without all the FanDuel or Draft Kings commercials. My strong distaste for all the gambling ads is an annoyance, for others, it’s a problem.

Gambling ads of late have been everywhere. It’s not surprising to see and hear them on sports broadcasts and on sports podcasts. If you’re watching or listening to sports and companion shows it make sense you could potentially be their target audience. But I’ve started to see them branch out into ads for other TV shows and podcasts. I feel like I’m being inundated with them.

I don’t gamble. I can’t say I ever have really. It just never interested me. I’ll play the occasional $10-20 poker game with friends, but that’s about it. Gambling at the slots, blackjack table, or anywhere else just never really piqued my interest. I don’t fault anyone who wants to have a night out at the casino, but it’s just not for me.

I then read about people struggling with gambling addiction and how much money people are losing. The ability to so easily and quickly place bets, lose it all, then place more and more bets to try to recoup the losses. College campuses are dealing with it too.

I really don't know what the solution is, if there even is one, but it's disappointing to see. I don't think I'd agree with banning sports betting, that ship has likely sailed now that sports gambling has been legalized in 39 of the 50 states, it just leaves me shaking my head.

And then you read about NBA players and coaches tilting the scales. Major League Baseball, who famously banned Pete Rose for life, has another scandal on its hands involving two Cleveland relievers. As a fan I want to see a "fair" game. I don't really think that any player would intentionally lose a game for a bet, but I can see how a pitcher intentionally starting a batter off with a ball for a parlay could accidentally snowball into a walk which could potentially start a rally. Sports are exciting in that you don't know what's going to happen next. Your team could have an amazing comeback win, or lose it all on a walk-off home run. It's one of the great things about sports. I don't want to have to start wondering if players are involved in any funny business on the field.

I was listening to a podcast episode about this and one suggestion would be to get rid of some of the ability to bet parlays. From what I've read, that could potentially help with some of the incentives for the funny business I'm worried about as well as limit some of the financial damage unchecked gambling can cause.

I'll end by leaving this here. Here is a video from ESPN where you can see the gambling ad in the lower right hand corner all of a sudden disappear when they realize what they're discussing.