Is legalized gambling ruining sports?
 

I don't have a strong opinion, but I'm curious if you do.

See poll.

What's the implication with the question? If it that the leagues are manipulating the games in coordination with Vegas than I'm out on that dumb conspiracy.

You can take the question however you choose to read into it.

It's been legal my whole life so kind of hard to tell.

I hate the fact that nearly all sports TV coverage and sports talk at large now devotes significant time to discussing gambling.

I don't think so.

Did it ruin sports somewhere else in the world? I imagine there have been scandals. Especially in smaller leagues where people aren't well paid

I follow the Premier League closely, and sports gambling has been legal in the UK for a long time. You see advertisements for gambling and specific bets on the sideline boards in real time. Many of the less wealthy clubs have gambling apps or outlets as sponsors. But gambling hasn't taken over so much of the media coverage like it has here, it's not so obtrusive, at least from what coverage I see in the US.

No. But apparently it's ruining the sex lives of Gen Z males.

In reality, no, but there seems to be a perception by some that it influences outcomes.

No. Carl Butt****ing Cheffers is ruining the game.

Where is there massive amounts of $$$ being exchanged in society without fraud, corruption, wrongdoing, etc? Greed >> everything else. And this doesn’t even factor the addictive nature of gambling being thrust upon the population, kids included.

Once you start wagering on games it changes the way you look at everything.

Until there’s proof it influences leagues it’s a net positive. More money improves the product. In leagues like the nba I also think they are pushing badly needed accountability for teams that rest starters for the hell of it or fudge injury reports.

That being said while I don’t buy into rigging widespread, I do wonder if the nfl can emphasize rules that create a system wide impact. A simple de-emphasis on defense penalties can wildly swing Vegas to where lots and lots bets on overs bust. I think Vegas has been mopping up $ on that and while I don’t want to believe it’s intentional, sometimes it makes you think.

ask yourself why a billion dollar industry doesnt replace him (or any other refs)..........and then you get to a red pill/blue pill place.

There were shitty officials in all sports before widespread legalization.

I don't think breeding a generation of gambling addicts is good for society but that's probably a topic for another thread. I sports bet quite a bit and i get annoyed with the non stop betting talk on tv. But then again, I've played online poker since 2009 so access to online betting isn't a new phenomenon for me.

I think the betting nonsense will die down in a year or so once the overall novelty of it being new is gone. Remember when DK and Fanduel had commercials for daily fantasy every 5 minutes and before them it was PokerStars and Full Tilt commercials every time you watched TV?

Yes. Games are steered....period

I'm getting really sick of point spread discussion seeping into actual game analysis. You're starting to see it get brought up during in-game commentary too. Sometimes Romo can't help himself and says crap like, "Some smart people out in the desert..." so he can get away with it on a technicality.

If they were held accountable, with a suspension, or termination for continued bad officiating, then I would say no. However, there is no accountability for horrible misses and calls, in fact, they defend them with all the shield... That should make people wonder and if that narrative continues to gain steam, it will be a problem for the NFL.

I say it's not a good look for sports. Especially with every other commercial being one about sports betting. Plus as others have noted, the sheer amount of money makes it a near certainty, in my opinion, that game fixing is, has or will be something that will affect many sports. The only problem is that because of the amount of money involved, the guilty parties will simple get the best legal system their (our?) money can buy.

It's like the beer commercials... Drink up, get loaded but be responsible...

It is unsavory.

I agree with pretty much everything that's been said. It's a bad look for the league, it opens up vulnerability to fixing, and it's annoying to hear it discussed on network broadcasts as part of the "game day coverage". Plus, I think it really says a lot about how the league is willing to help ruin the lives of people to make money. It's bad all around. Bad, bad, bad.

Having said that, what does the league really have control over? We tend to think of football as one big organization, but the NFL doesn't officially control network coverage discussion or advertising on broadcasts or the gambling organizations themselves. What can the league do?

Obviously, the NFL could go to congress and ask that sports betting be made illegal. This would be my preferred process. But short of that, what could realistically happen?

Could the NFL put pressure on the networks to stop showing gambling ads? Maybe, though I bet that would involve a lot of lawyers.

Could the NFL put pressure on the networks to stop mentioning gambling with their talking heads? I'm sure that's possible. They already tell the networks to not harp on officiating errors and past patriot cheating.

Could the NFL keep past players like the Manning mafia from doing ads? Maybe. I'm not sure how many lawyers that would take, but it's possible.

Could the NFL shut down gambling organizations from using NFL logos, names, and brands? Maybe. I'm not sure.

All I know is that the world was a better place when the NFL wasn't promoting gambling and the ruination of its fan base.

I view it the same way I viewed fantasy sports. It was a fun little bonus until it all became about the fantasy and/or gambling lines.

It no longer became about the game and more about the Indvidual achievements and point lines.

It sucks. Life was so much better back in the days when all this degenerate gambler shit was confined to Vegas or dealing with mob bookies.

Opening up sports wagering to the masses has ruined sports gambling.

Now its just a license to take peoples money. The industry doesn't need to worry about pay outs and competitive lines if there are millions of idiots out there to nickel and dime every day of the week. I have basically quit gambling because the lines are a joke. The odds are so stacked against you.

I may be in the minority on this but I see a lot of positive to it.

In fantasy you just have to beat your friends. In betting you have to beat Vegas and really savvy bettors who quickly move bad lines. Casual bettors lose money very quickly. Ive been doing low stakes shit just for the fun of it. I love player props and I've been watching WAY more of other teams than I used to. Feel like anyone who sticks with it has a better understanding of what defense is run, best matchups, etc... You can't just throw money at kelce - you gotta know how he matches up against the defense. So the majority of fans who stick with betting are probably studying up on their bets, which means you're growing the base of fans who know more of their shit where fantasy has a ton of casual fans in there

Eventually turbo normies will figure out they can't beat the bookies and move on to the next thing. I was shocked when i looked at my DK all time statement and saw i was only down like $300 lifetime.

It's a real problem. I had to check myself when talking to others about football to not go into the gambling side. It's almost like talking about your fantasy team, nobody else gives a shit.

Agree.

My brother feels the need to constantly tell me how bad the Chiefs are because Travis is distracted and Mahomes just isn't what he used to me. He doesn't even watch the games. Just the stat line. Points Points Points.

I think you'll see a lot of that go away. It'll be there for a short time because betting sites keep opening up to new states with all these betting promos? In the end the people who don't know their shit will get cleaned out, those who kinda know will lose just enough to turtle, and all that will be left will be a larger audience of people who know their shit. in the end it'll be survival of the fittest

You see this a lot on Twitter especially. These absurd cappers are starting to get destroyed for posting bullshit picks. And the best cappers are moving to more subscription type services.

These are the ****ing golden days for sports betting. Every provider is in a land grab mode so they’re handing out money like it’s nothing. In 5-10 years there will only be 4-5 providers nationwide. Then they will have less incentive to offer promos or advertise their service.

Live betting lines also haven't been honed very well. I recently went on a streak of something like 22/25 betting live lines across various sports.

I think that's more fantasy related, no? Though, fantasy was largely tied to gambling some too but it's been around for quite a while.

I don't gamble but seeing the spreads and over/unders are interesting to see.

I’m voting no only because the games were rigged before gambling was so public.

I would say that Boxing was probably the sport that has been most affected by gambling.

I’m the same. Of course you could check those even before gambling started going legal.

No issue with gambling but have an issue with NFL and other leagues partnering up with gambling sites/companies.

I've always enjoyed casual betting, but I find the commercials so annoying it's just not something I give a shit about anymore and most of the people who insist on talking about it are reaching douche level.

I really don't like what it has done to several sports fans I know. They're no longer sports fans. They're degenerate thrill chasers using whatever random parlay or stack they can find to get their fix. They were all crying about Reek standing on the sidelines because it's ****ing up their stack. They don't care about him, they don't care about his team, they don't even care about the NFL anymore. They've devolved into just betting on some random shit that might happen and looking up the results to see if if happened.

They might as well go bet on random rat races, pull slots, or play bingo.

True. But SportsCenter talking about it and Van Pelt's Bad Beats segment is the best thing on SportsCenter.

The music to bad beats cracks me up

It utterly tank the entire Asian soccer league infrastructure with rampant cheating and game fixing.

I don't have a problem with people gambling That's their business. I have a problem with is when people lose all their money going to hock and then expect society to bail them out. I mean I take risks like everybody else but I don't gamble money. And I think you also have to be a little bit naive to think that it doesn't manipulate sports leagues.