I absolutely HATE sports betting it is a plague and should be banned

Correction: 1/8 finals...

 

I do enjoy some sports betting but the problem is that it's just soooo profitable that they really are just shoving it down our throats now to the detriment of the actual sports product. Like just tone down the advertising and it'll be in a good place but greed knows no moderation I guess.

I live in Vegas and I actually deleted all my sports betting apps so that if I wanted to place a bet I'd have to drive to a casino to do it. Having something that you can just throw money into almost infinitely that accessible is a dangerous thing especially when it's constantly shoved in your face.

 

Basically - I feel like you are not betting on ability
but betting on which team or what have you . .. the "organizations" will have to win

Rocket River

 

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: Sports gambling is the new fentanyl. There is no bigger predicator of suicide than a gambling addiction, and advertising it to everyone exposes those predisposed to addiction to the ultimate rush of betting money, leading to armies of addicts.

It's not the first time the government allowed a vice to make money, but unlike others, I doubt gambling gets stamped out any time soon. Cigarette smoking was only discouraged after it was revealed that taxpayer funded medicare bills from smoking related ailments cost far more than the taxes generated by smoking. As mar1juana use becomes more mainstream, we might see a similar reaction as the effects of decades of blazing up emerge. Gambling? There's no long-term medical bills to worry about, just body disposal after you put twelve-gage buckshot through your skull after your life savings and all your assets have been gambled away and taxed.

 

I support it being legal, but I agree it is very annoying. I don't care about it and I think there are several potential negative effects from it. And I think it will get much worse before it starts to get better, if it ever does get better.

But itiswhatitis. I don't think we'll ever go back. Sports leagues want this. $$$ to be made.

 

There are $$$$$ to be made, unfortunately in ways that are undermining the product. NBA reffing is already quite entertainment-driven, rather than rules-driven. Gambling adds to the pressure on refs to make calls based on second-to-second $$$ considerations, too. These pressures discourage players from developing athletic skills based on the rules, but instead finding ways to trick refs.

 

Gambling didn't just start. Refs have always been questionable and controversial dating back decade and decades. This isn't anything new. It has always been part of professional and collegiate sports

Nobody will ever be satisfied when everything is based on judgement calls. Even a lot of clear cut calls aren't 100% agreeable

The only reason why folks see "gambling" publicized more now is bc it's becoming more and more prevalent and legalized across the world. But the industry has been around long before all this. Technology evolving allows the likes of Draftkings, fanduel and books like them to exist

 

to be fair, SCOTUS often finds new rights amongst the penumbra of various constitutional clauses. this just happens to be one you don't like.

I am not a bettor, have never been one, and my trips to Vegas are strictly restricted to fine dining and other pursuits. do you object to the betting itself, or the crassness of the way it's marketed, and to whom?

 

I was talking about Sacramento/Lakers, but yeah, Belgium should have scored there.

 

To me, the issue is the prop bets, since these incentivize players and refs to engage in specific dubious behaviors that happen one at a time, yet with enough prop bets every game action could be compromised. Betting on teams to win or lose spreads out the incentives, so players and refs will be much more likely to play to win and officiate reasonably.

The ease of prop bets is what is different now.

 

prop bets are the result of books like the ones I've mentioned being available, now that technology is much more advanced

 

Yes, we're in agreement. I have no moral problem with the gambling. But I personally would like to see players play excellent basketball. If the gambling incentives become too large, players start getting rewarded for playing abnormally, rather than well.

 

the stars in the nba don't give af about prop bets tbh. They make way too much for them to care. You might find some scrubs that pay attention to stuff like that but the action allowed on prop bets isn't even worth it when they don't even know if they're going to play and the lack of $ for it to even make sense

 

Greed makes the world go around and there's nothing more pure than turning addictive behavior and the modern American dream (get money quick and consume quicker) into a trillion dollar business. Some of these companies (e.g. draftkings) are even public so you can make this exploitation part of your own personal portfolio! How neat is that?

I say this as someone who enjoys random small time bets. Gambling, like alcohol, is fun until it becomes a full time job. There's a reason every time gambling is mentioned they have to include that 2 minute list of phone numbers for every state's addiction hotlines.

 

Prob true, but it's not public information how much action there is. It's easy to imagine that Ohtani's interpreter was encouraging him to throw even when his UCL was about to tear, so he could make inside info prop bets. Objectively it was idiotic for the interpreter to gamble -- he was already on a gravy train. Did he do it because he was just really really stupid, or because he thought he had a hustle on?

 

You don't need it to be public information. Regular gamblers know how and understand theirs limits and caps for prop bets.

nobody is putting a million dollars on Boban scoring 2 pts. it wouldn't be allowed anywhere.

 

Perception is everything. If people perceive a sport isn’t real…if we all bought into that magnet ****…who the **** would ever watch again? It’s why athletes gambling on the league they play within is so forbidden….because you have to build a Chinese Wall around the integrity of the game. The lines are being blurred big time right now. Mike Greenberg is a face of sports gambling while also being the guy you “Get Up” to each morning. The minute I think it’s pro wrasslin or the fix is in, I’m done. I don’t bet on sports, and I don’t care to watch if I think it’s set up for a certain outcome

 

Take drug all you want. Just don't get addicted.