It’s Super Bowl Game Night. Everyone you know has some type of watch party planned- whether it’s at a local pub or at a friends’ house. Everyone munches on mozzarella sticks, spicy buffalo wings, and nachos. Even people you thought never watched football are anxious about the results of the game. However, it is not because they care so much about supporting the athletes- but because they are hundreds or even thousands of dollars deep in a sports bet. Though sports betting seems glamorous, the long-term effects on one’s mental health are often overlooked. Sure, the odds of winning a grand prize while wearing your favorite team jersey sounds great- but the risks of addiction, relationship problems, and even depression or suicide should encourage someone to think twice. Sports gambling is legal in all 50 states of America, which leads to an ethical discussion on whether this is right or wrong.
Until 2018, gambling in sports was considered an illegal act in the United States. Sports journalist Tin Graham once gave a hypothetical situation that if “Let’s say you are a sports journalist who covers the Montana State University men’s basketball team. They play in the Big Sky Conference – a long way from the bright lights of the Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big Ten. You’re watching practice one day, the only media member there, and you see Montana State’s starting point guard turn his ankle. It’s clear he’s injured. You open your phone. You see two apps next to each other. One is for Twitter, where you can publish the fact that the player is injured. The other is for a sports gambling website. Now, you have information no one outside of that gym has. You can place a bet and take the points on Idaho State because you know he’s not going to play,” said Graham, a sportswriter for The Athletic.” Since sports gambling was legalized across the United States in 2018, the number of wagers gambled has increased tremendously. According to a report from Bloomberg, in October 2021, gamblers wagered more than $7 billion on sports, which is 2,000 percent more than in June 2018. Since then, sports media companies have also invested in sports gambling as well. Sports media outlets such as ESPN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Turner Sports, The Athletic, The Hockey News, The Ringer, SB Nation have joined forces with at least one major sports betting companies in the United States. This is only going to increase in the future and field out as more states legalize sports gambling. “With newspapers, you just felt like you were getting your teeth kicked in every day,” said Teddy Greenstein, who spent 24 years as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune before taking a job as senior editor with PointsBet Sportsbook in 2020. “You felt kind of fatalistic, like what’s the point? Do we even have a plan? However, this raises the questions, should sports gambling be legal? Is it ethical?, and How would this affect the reporting of sports and letting the consumers really know if they are really getting the truth about the sports report? The sports section has always served the human-interest side and the gambling side,” said Dr. Michael Mirer of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, an expert in the practice and history of sports journalism. Athletes are looked at like profitable objects, rather than accomplished and talented professionals.
The legalization of sports betting has raised some eyebrows about the ethical concerns about the integrity of sports outcomes. The most vulnerable to corruption would be college athletes because they do not get paid for their sport. “Professional players make too much to risk throwing a game…but a kid on full athletic scholarship with no money in the bank is much more susceptible when someone approaches him and says, ‘Hey, you’re playing Colgate tonight. You guys are favored by 20 points. Here’s $5,000. Make sure it’s under 20.” Says John Wolohan, a professor of sports law at Syracuse University. However, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) put its policy on not hosting championships in States where sports betting is legal. This comes in opposing view to its existing hardline stance against betting in sports. Before the Supreme Court ruling in 2018, the NCAA banned sports gambling amongst college athletes and has made it aware to them by posting signs outside NCAA tournament locker rooms specifically warning athletes not to bet, losing their eligibility for a year as punishment if they do so. However, since sports gambling was legalized in 2018, the NCAA’s practice of restricting sports betting advertising at tournaments will continue.
One may argue that people are responsible for their own decision making and must take responsibility for their actions. However, knowing how dangerous the risks of addiction are, it is not legally appropriate to make gambling so risky and accessible. The function of law is to do what is right for most of the people and to put self and financial interest aside.
One of the reasons the legalization of sports gambling is harmful is through the advertising of it. With the introduction of Sports Books such as DraftKing’s and FanDuel, which are sports booking companies that take odd and make bets, have taken the advertising waves by storm which have attracted as many gamblers as they could. Anywhere you go in this world you will not drive by a billboard, see a television commercial, or read o newspaper ad that doesn’t promote any of the sports betting sites. Sportsbooks are operated under individual State regulation. There are absolutely no rules for advertising sports gambling from the federal government. With the limited oversight on the advertising for sports gambling, attention has been raised for people who have a history of a gambling issue as well as for individuals who are too young to bet. Spectators now wager tens of billions of dollars each year on games they once watched with little or no financial interest. The boom in sports betting comes as there has been an increase in inquiries to the National Problem Gambling Helpline Network, which received 270,000 calls, texts and chats last year — a 45% jump over the prior year. This is a danger especially to people who have addictive personalities. “The advertising is just like the old beer ads and the cigarette ads that were on TV for years. It’s the same situation,” says Vin Bickler, who answers the help line at the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey and is a recovering gabling addict. “People are being sucked into thinking that it’s glamorous, thinking they’re going to win, and they don’t win. In the end, they lose everything.” According to Bickler, people of all ages from young men in their 20’s to elderly women who are trying to control their gambling problem, call his office every day.
Most ads are promoted during sporting events, making it easy to target an excited audience. Now that we are in the digital era, there are many ads that make it is easier than ever to make a few clicks from your phone to start making bets. One could lose such a large percentage of his or her assets via a simple app within seconds. Sports leagues and state governments are certainly earning revenue, but one’s personal well- being should not be what is sacrificed. There should be a national age requirement gambling instead of allowing it to be individualized by the state and local governments. As there is an age requirement on substances such as cigarettes and alcohol, there should be a nation-wide age restriction on sports gambling.
It wasn’t just the supreme court ruling back in 2018 that caused the boom in sports gambling. Four of the major sports leagues in the United States, the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL, and as well as the NCAA, who were all once against the legalization of sports betting have urged for the supreme court to maintain their law. However, since the 2018 decision, all four leagues have not only accepted sports gambling but have also partnered with major sports booking operators, and now tv broadcasts constantly display adds during games. Withing the las year, the industry has skyrocketed, raking in $57.2 billion in handle. That estimates to about $4.29 billion for a business that was banned in almost every state five years ago, with states such as, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, both of which legalized sports betting in 2018, have each raked in more than $225 million in taxes, according to figures compiled by the website Sports Handle.
The legalization of sports gambling is often overlooked by many athletes, fans, and journalists. We need to think about who is most vulnerable in this area to mitigate as much risk as possible. Boundaries such as age requirements and gambling limits need to be in place to prevent addiction, financial loss, and mental difficulties. More awareness must be raised; instead of advertising the next bet to join, perhaps companies should advertise addiction and help hotlines instead.
Resources
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/18/1104952410/sports-betting-ads-sports-gambling
https://kindbridge.com/gambling/why-do-elite-athletes-gamble-when-they-know-the-consequences/https://globalsportmatters.com/business/2022/01/11/what-happens-sports-media-sports-betting/#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20creating%20more,is%20thirsty%20for%20more%20information
Examples
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/10/business/online-sports-gambling-addiction/index.html
sportsgamblingethics.com 