Why sports gambling is a bad bet | Sports | coastalview.com – Coastal View News

If I were a gambling man, I would wager that as soon as humans started competing for sport, there was someone right there gambling on the outcome of that contest. In fact, the first records of gambling date back to 2300 BC, when ancient humans placed bets on animal fights or games with six-sided dice and since currency wasnt invented until at least the seventh century settled those bets with livestock, land, food or anything else that was considered valuable.

But the world has come a long way since then, and Id bet good money that those early gamblers heads would explode if exposed to the big-money onslaught of ads, apps and addicts that make up todays billion-dollar gambling industry. The sports world has become particularly infested with gambling in recent years, ever since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that prohibited states from allowing sports betting back in 2018.

In the five years since, over 35 states have legalized sports betting in some form, and Americans have placed more than $250 billion through legal gambling outlets while online betting platforms like FanDuel and DraftKings have jumped the barrier from startup to corporate partners, with their logos and advertisements plastered on stadiums in many major sports leagues making it near impossible for a sports fan to avoid their charms. As of this year, the two companies control over 70% of the legal sports betting market in the country.

And these companies have gotten unnervingly creative with their honey traps. They offer free bets (if you win, you could get another free bet!) or micro-betting, where gamblers not only place bets on the outcome of a football game, but also whether the next play will be a run or a pass or which player will score next. When thats not enough, gamblers can customize multiple-game parlays, putting up a small price for the chance to win a big pot if they can correctly call the winner in every match.

Its extended to sports media as well, seeping into broadcasts and game coverage, with commentary becoming less about who will win the game and more about whether theyll cover the spread or crack the over/under line. ESPN, the once mighty home of sports news, has become a bettors paradise ever since 2023 when the network announced a $2 billion brand deal with a casino company to create its own online sports betting platform called ESPN Bet.

I understand the temptation and the thrill of gambling, and Ive surely placed a bet or two with friends, but the proliferation of sports betting companies and the sheer amount of money and power these companies have amassed cannot erase the real-life damage that gambling has caused to individuals and to the sports industry as a whole.

Just last year, the Iowa State football team was involved in a gambling scandal when several team members were found to have placed thousands of dollars worth of bets through DraftKings, including games they were playing in. Across the country, sports gambling addiction has risen tenfold in the past five years as online betting has become more accessible, making it easier than ever to spiral into a gambling habit and inescapable debt because, regardless of how lucky anybody is, the house will always win.

Sports betting was on the California ballot in 2022, with two separate propositions that would have legalized sports betting either in tribal casinos or online. Lobbyists for the casinos and online sports books spent a record-breaking $600 million trying to get the measures passed, but voters resoundingly denied both, with over 70% of voters opposed to sports betting in casinos and 83% opposed to online sports books.

It was a small win for the state, but with a lot of money to be made from the millions of sports fans in California, the tribal casinos and online platforms are not going to give up their chance to win big. If anything, the scales will continue to tip toward legalized sports betting as the gambling industry crawls out of the underground world of bookies and handshake bets and into the primetime, giving these groups even more sway to convince voters that legalized gambling is the only way to those sweet, sweet tax dollars (lobbyists for Prop. 27, which would have legalized online betting in California if passed, claimed that the state could rake in hundreds of millions of dollars through sports betting taxes).

But Im still not convinced that legalizing sports gambling is the best course of action. I dont mind a small bet with friends, but with the corporate monsters trying everything in their power to win the right to squeeze every possible dollar from hard-working sports fans, it takes the fun out of the game. I wouldnt venture to bet against them, but then again, Im not much of a betting man.

Ryan P. Cruz is the sports editor for Coastal View News. This is the latest installment of a monthly column where he explores local sports, sports history, and whats in store for the future of Carpinteria sports. Have an idea, tip, or sports story? Email me at sports@coastalview.com.

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Why sports gambling is a bad bet | Sports | coastalview.com - Coastal View News