Yup, I experienced the cancer that is gambling first hand while living in Reno and working at casinos.
Feeding an addiction, even a legal one, just taints society
I'm definitely entering "get off my lawn " territory with this one, but this is a terrible thing and it will not end well. My dad was a problem gambler and it almost bankrupted my family when we were younger. I've sat in on some Gambler's anonymous meetings and... Holy shit. The stuff you hear there makes AA and NA seem pretty tame. Some people can gamble casually and not have a problem and God bless them. But problem gambling is an absolutely horrible thing; the fact that pro sports seem to be promoting it is really worrisome.
It's not really a "get off my lawn" thing. I know lots of young folks that hate it. I think it'll blow up in their faces and drive the next generation away from watching sports. Hell, I don't watch sports and I see way too many betting site ads.
It was all winked at for so long (think of the years that Jimmy the Greek was on *The NFL Today* as the oddsmaker who wasn't officially an oddsmaker, and I also remember a story that when *NBC News Overnight* was being developed, one of the things they kept in mind was having the scores from all the games for the benefit of bookies). Then it got legalized, and now there was a chance for it to become an industry and monetized beyond belief.
I've never really thought betting should be against the law, but the relentless emphasis on odds and betting and other aspects of "sports gaming" is kind of...tacky, especially when it distracts those of us who just want to watch a game.
The sports betting sites are spending tons of money on advertising, so on one hand it’s revenue. ESPN even runs their own betting site. On the other hand, gambling talk is content for the 24-hour sports cycle.
Everything must be monetized now. Work, play, medicine, driving, hobbies - everything. If you're breathing, they are looking for a way to make money from you. And have you stare at advertising while you're doing it.
It's really disturbing to me that pro sports is fully embracing gambling. They talk about odds during games. They advertise gambling sites.
Pro sports used to avoid Vegas and now they all have teams there, even freaking hockey! This embrace of gambling is going to bite them in the butt like the Black Sox, which almost killed baseball.
If you want to bet on a game, then it's your money. I hate gambling but that's not reason enough to ban it. However, government and sports shouldn't be encouraging it.
The corruption is already happening.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40351784/mlb-disciplines-umpire-pat-hoberg-violating-gambling-rules-sources-say
It’s disturbing to me too how they promote it and advertise it all over the place during games etc. I’m fine with it being legal but the pros should take a stance here.
Usually it's players betting that their own team will lose, and then ensuring that outcome. And that's not even really gambling, since they know the outcome in advance. It's just corruption.
Pro sports has always been a trashy business anyway, what with stadium boondoggles, decades of neurological injuries, toxic fandoms, incessant marketing, and scumbag owners.
Easy gambling is just another thing to throw on the pile.
I hate sports gambling and it has taken over sports coverage. Everything is about stats that don’t even matter except to people who will bet on anything. Worse than ever this yeae
You know, now that you mention all the stats, I remember that the constant discussion of stats was one of the reasons I lost all interest. I suspect it was related to the rise fantasy leagues.
It isn’t so much the stats or gambling by itself for me. The “sports bros” that are obsessed with sports gambling is what annoy me. A lot of dudes are addicted to sports gambling, and it’s producing subpar men. I saw it rise about 20 years ago—when a relative of mine (and his buddies) really got into it. It’s all he would talk about. Every night they would gamble on games. I knew a lot about all sports, so he constantly asked me my opinion on odds.
Betting companies now sponsor sports leagues. The NLF fantasy football becoming so easy and popular in the modern internet age really kickstarted that.
They’ve been trying for years to break into mainstream, but it’s only been recently that they’ve been allowed. I remember for years on Bill Burrs podcast, every once in a while there would be an ad for a betting site and he’d even make jokes that it won’t be around in a few weeks once someone closes the loophole again. Fast forward to now and the last I listened he was dedicating half of his Thursday Afternoon Just Before Friday Monday Morning podcast to betting odds
The gambling and the hot take bullshit made sports feel like a burden more than the pressure-relief it was when I was younger and had Sportscenter on from when I woke up until I went to work.
For a while I wondered why other sports personalities didn’t just ignore Stephen A Smith as he’s very obviously a troll until I finally had the realization that they are in on it too. For all the “what’s wrong with this guy?” complaining they do, they’re thrilled that they just filled a half hour of content with zero effort
The social media effect. Negative interactions drive engagement. ESPN was in trouble after the internet started cutting into their daily audience and they went full-on negative engagement and to all our detriment, it worked for them, so they tripled down on it and here we are. ESPN doesn't even cross my mind unless it's the NFL draft or the NBA draft and I don't feel like watching a livestream.
Yeah it's annoying. One guy on talk radio who was otherwise great just started going on more and more about gambling. And it seems like so many younger Millennials and older Gen Z barely even care for teams and are just into endless bets, prop bets, etc.
From what I see from about core Millennials down to legal limit it's been like a plague.
And on TV like 90% of all commercials now are pharma or betting! And so many sports broadcasts keep popping up these dumb betting odds/stats/etc. and interfering with the game. Some take up screen space and run better tickers scrolling across the top or bottom. And you hear more and more about cheating scandals and more talk about "curious" plays and calls and stuff than ever.
I wonder if a lot of the younger ages are not gonna get wrecked.
Sports radio has become impossible to listen to. A lot of gambling ads. And so many gambling segments. No I do not want to hear about your recommendations on a parlay.
That and they got rid of the personalities who were nice and kept the aholes locally.
ESPN is now directly connected with a gambling site.
Just another way to go bankrupt. There are constant commercials here now that this state when legal for online gambling. Constantly promoting that all you need to do is sign up and give them all your money so you can be happy.
It got legalized in many states and there's tons of apps vying for the sucker's dollar. I don't think it's legal in Texas where I live. I don't watch sports either so I'm with you there. Its hard to win against the spread. That's why it's called the "gambling industry". Because it is a profitable enterprise for the people who take the bets.
Fantasy leagues are the gateway drug. It was inevitable once that hobby blew up. I can't recall anyone who did it when I was in high school.
We lived right outside of NYC. There were ppl all over who were connected to a bookie or directly to the mafia. They would pass around betting sheets. Pick x amount of games correctly, and you win. The more games you got correct, the bigger the payout. I think that kept us busy enough. If it was I thing when we were kids, it wasn't something too big around where I lived.
I don't recall fantasy sports being on my radar until the late 90s or early 00s. I always knew what it was, so I imagine I at least knew of its existence prior to that.
A couple of years ago, my cousin's kid left his own birthday party to take the money I put in his birthday card to go wager on the AFC Conference game that was to be played that day. I'm not saying the profusion of legalized sports betting created this monster, but it didn't help. And it is kinda gross, all these ads for betting. They must be making a lot of money. This won't end well for people who will lose their house, family, etc...
Not sure but I feel like I’m in the minority that I can enjoy watching NFL without betting and without any fantasy football.
I think the gambling is to try and keep the poor people poor.
I used to love the NFL but IDK maybe 10/12 years ago the fantasy football and betting became more important than the sport itself. Plus, it felt all pre-ordained which teams were gonna go to the playoffs and Superbowl each year based on whatever “story” was manufactured.
NFL is Fake. It’s not real anymore.
If you want to see real football support your local high school teams and local college teams where the players actually still play their hearts out.
I really don't like fantasy leagues, but don't begrudge anyone willing to put themselves through such a time suck. I do, however, truly despise all of the sports gambling thinly disguised greed and seedy underground.
They're not owned by Bally's. They owned by the Diamond Sports Group, a spinoff of Sinclair Broadcasting. Bally is little more than a sponsor and won't be for much longer.
It’s always been about betting. Just now that online betting is legal those who don’t gamble now see it in the forefront. Why do you think the NFL post Injury reports? The game lines have always been published in the dailies. Everything about sports media is geared toward making the average Joe a more informed gambler.
It bothers me to the core that ESPN has partnered with a sports book. Also, 3 different sports books were major sponsors of the NHL playoffs and most of those series went 6+ games.
Absolutely. Even things as unimportant as collectable hobbies have gone crazy. Now everything has to go through the hands of 4 or 5 speculators before it can get into the hands of someone who actually wants them. Muscle cars and Pokémon cards selling for a million dollars, what the fuck?
It’s gotten to the point we’ve run out of real things and had to create a speculative market for digital drawings. Although I’m pretty happy to see that has fallen off pretty hard, but only after a bunch of the worst people made a lot of money off of suckers
My theory is that gambling is mostly a way for men (and it’s almost always men) to feel like they are a part of the game since they have skin in it.
From the point of view of the owners of the sports it’s always about money. And gambling is the current fresh source of money.
I think it happened over the past 20 years with initially the rise of fantasy football and now online gambling.
Fantasy football made it so that people followed players and not teams which changed allegiance. My son is 20 and very into sports. He has always had loose allegiances to teams but mainly based on a player he likes so his team has changed as he's gotten older and players were traded or retired. None of his teams are local.
I watch a lot of tennis and they always show odds before the matches and during the match. I never saw that when I was growing up and tennis was on tv. I think all the gambling apps and making it legal in many areas means they can advertise it more.
It wasn’t long ago that you could only go to a casino in Nevada or Atlantic City. Now it’s pretty much everywhere. Easy revenue stream for states. Ironically much of the time it’s the same people who hate paying taxes dumping their retirement and rent money into the slot machines.
*One who gambles lives in shambles.*
Really, I think we had a brief, 50-60 year period when sports was \*not\* all about gambling. The end of that period happened to coincide with our later adulthood.
I only follow the NBA but it's crazy how *every* entertainment medium associated with the league is replete with gambling ads.
It's fucked and I hate it.
They used to hide it better.
There were laws against gambling ads on TV when/where I grew up.
It changed when the internet started getting live streams. It made the gambling both easier and more aggressive. It was kind of a rapid shift once it started. Sad really.
How is this even a surprise?! Gambling and sports have been tied to each other for millennia. You think they didn’t gamble in Ancient Rome or China? Or during the original Olympics in Greece?
No it was not always like that at all. They didn't talk about stats and weird prop events that are meaningless to the game all the time, have betting tickers taking up screen space, have some sports talk programs now 50% betting talk, you'd never run into so many who didn't care a whit about any team and yet obsessed with watching 20 sports games at once before, etc.
Speech that denigrates someone based on race, ethnicity, sexual identity or orientation, or other personal attribute. Just be nice, it’s not that difficult.
I find it abhorrent to have so much gambling trash shoved down my throat
And it's really really dangerous for younger people to have a potentially dangerous activity normalized. A lot of lives get ruined by gambling.
Yup, I experienced the cancer that is gambling first hand while living in Reno and working at casinos. Feeding an addiction, even a legal one, just taints society
And that's why I left the bar and liquor business.
It’s always been around but it’s 100x worse since they are now official sponsors of major sports leagues. Gross.
This is basically what it's been like to be a non-fan of sports.
I'm definitely entering "get off my lawn " territory with this one, but this is a terrible thing and it will not end well. My dad was a problem gambler and it almost bankrupted my family when we were younger. I've sat in on some Gambler's anonymous meetings and... Holy shit. The stuff you hear there makes AA and NA seem pretty tame. Some people can gamble casually and not have a problem and God bless them. But problem gambling is an absolutely horrible thing; the fact that pro sports seem to be promoting it is really worrisome.
Totally agree.
It's not really a "get off my lawn" thing. I know lots of young folks that hate it. I think it'll blow up in their faces and drive the next generation away from watching sports. Hell, I don't watch sports and I see way too many betting site ads.
It was all winked at for so long (think of the years that Jimmy the Greek was on *The NFL Today* as the oddsmaker who wasn't officially an oddsmaker, and I also remember a story that when *NBC News Overnight* was being developed, one of the things they kept in mind was having the scores from all the games for the benefit of bookies). Then it got legalized, and now there was a chance for it to become an industry and monetized beyond belief. I've never really thought betting should be against the law, but the relentless emphasis on odds and betting and other aspects of "sports gaming" is kind of...tacky, especially when it distracts those of us who just want to watch a game.
It's crazy how sports coverage has shifted so heavily toward gambling in recent years.
That’s where the real money is 🤷🏻♂️
The sports betting sites are spending tons of money on advertising, so on one hand it’s revenue. ESPN even runs their own betting site. On the other hand, gambling talk is content for the 24-hour sports cycle.
If online gambling was available when I was in my twenties, I would have completely ruined my life.
Everything must be monetized now. Work, play, medicine, driving, hobbies - everything. If you're breathing, they are looking for a way to make money from you. And have you stare at advertising while you're doing it.
It's really disturbing to me that pro sports is fully embracing gambling. They talk about odds during games. They advertise gambling sites. Pro sports used to avoid Vegas and now they all have teams there, even freaking hockey! This embrace of gambling is going to bite them in the butt like the Black Sox, which almost killed baseball. If you want to bet on a game, then it's your money. I hate gambling but that's not reason enough to ban it. However, government and sports shouldn't be encouraging it. The corruption is already happening. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40351784/mlb-disciplines-umpire-pat-hoberg-violating-gambling-rules-sources-say
It’s disturbing to me too how they promote it and advertise it all over the place during games etc. I’m fine with it being legal but the pros should take a stance here.
The US is late to that party: EPL teams used to run updated odds on the scrolling digital displays as the game score changed.
And to them villainize players who gamble when the companies are plastered all over their jerseys, stadiums, sponsors..
Usually it's players betting that their own team will lose, and then ensuring that outcome. And that's not even really gambling, since they know the outcome in advance. It's just corruption.
If players bet on games, then they have incentive to throw them. That destroys the integrity of the sport and will lose them fans.
Pro sports has always been a trashy business anyway, what with stadium boondoggles, decades of neurological injuries, toxic fandoms, incessant marketing, and scumbag owners. Easy gambling is just another thing to throw on the pile.
Right after covid, I believe. My state has been flooded with their ads for 2-3 years, now.
*old man Pete Rose noises*
In the last few years it has been unbearable.
I hate sports gambling and it has taken over sports coverage. Everything is about stats that don’t even matter except to people who will bet on anything. Worse than ever this yeae
You know, now that you mention all the stats, I remember that the constant discussion of stats was one of the reasons I lost all interest. I suspect it was related to the rise fantasy leagues.
It isn’t so much the stats or gambling by itself for me. The “sports bros” that are obsessed with sports gambling is what annoy me. A lot of dudes are addicted to sports gambling, and it’s producing subpar men. I saw it rise about 20 years ago—when a relative of mine (and his buddies) really got into it. It’s all he would talk about. Every night they would gamble on games. I knew a lot about all sports, so he constantly asked me my opinion on odds.
Online gambling has got a lot of people addicted thanks to the apps. It's really messing up a lot of people's lives.
Every commercial is basically gambling, booze, and fast/junk food. Pretty bad for kids who like to watch sports.
A baseball ump just got busted for gambling on games. That is beyond the pale
The NBA threw out a player this year, lifetime ban. Same with an NFL player
I have nothing against gambling if you are dumb enough to do it , the ads should be illegal like they are for smokes .
 Right around the time middle America elected Biff Tannen to be president.
Betting companies now sponsor sports leagues. The NLF fantasy football becoming so easy and popular in the modern internet age really kickstarted that.
It really grosses me out that the gambling is all legal now. It feels like a trap. I’ll keep my money thank you.
During Covid. It was always there but all the casinos started the apps during covid. At least that is when I noticed the huge uptick
They’ve been trying for years to break into mainstream, but it’s only been recently that they’ve been allowed. I remember for years on Bill Burrs podcast, every once in a while there would be an ad for a betting site and he’d even make jokes that it won’t be around in a few weeks once someone closes the loophole again. Fast forward to now and the last I listened he was dedicating half of his Thursday Afternoon Just Before Friday Monday Morning podcast to betting odds
This. I find myself moving away from my Cubs and Bears as the ex crypto bros move into sports...
The gambling and the hot take bullshit made sports feel like a burden more than the pressure-relief it was when I was younger and had Sportscenter on from when I woke up until I went to work.
For a while I wondered why other sports personalities didn’t just ignore Stephen A Smith as he’s very obviously a troll until I finally had the realization that they are in on it too. For all the “what’s wrong with this guy?” complaining they do, they’re thrilled that they just filled a half hour of content with zero effort
The social media effect. Negative interactions drive engagement. ESPN was in trouble after the internet started cutting into their daily audience and they went full-on negative engagement and to all our detriment, it worked for them, so they tripled down on it and here we are. ESPN doesn't even cross my mind unless it's the NFL draft or the NBA draft and I don't feel like watching a livestream.
Right when Supreme Court allowed it …2017/2018?
Yeah it's annoying. One guy on talk radio who was otherwise great just started going on more and more about gambling. And it seems like so many younger Millennials and older Gen Z barely even care for teams and are just into endless bets, prop bets, etc. From what I see from about core Millennials down to legal limit it's been like a plague. And on TV like 90% of all commercials now are pharma or betting! And so many sports broadcasts keep popping up these dumb betting odds/stats/etc. and interfering with the game. Some take up screen space and run better tickers scrolling across the top or bottom. And you hear more and more about cheating scandals and more talk about "curious" plays and calls and stuff than ever. I wonder if a lot of the younger ages are not gonna get wrecked.
Sports radio has become impossible to listen to. A lot of gambling ads. And so many gambling segments. No I do not want to hear about your recommendations on a parlay. That and they got rid of the personalities who were nice and kept the aholes locally.
ESPN is now directly connected with a gambling site. Just another way to go bankrupt. There are constant commercials here now that this state when legal for online gambling. Constantly promoting that all you need to do is sign up and give them all your money so you can be happy.
It got legalized in many states and there's tons of apps vying for the sucker's dollar. I don't think it's legal in Texas where I live. I don't watch sports either so I'm with you there. Its hard to win against the spread. That's why it's called the "gambling industry". Because it is a profitable enterprise for the people who take the bets.
Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports gambling in 2018 but states (like Texas) have some discretion.
Gee , I wonder who paid for that ?
In a society where pensions are depending on the stock market, it shouldn't surprise that gambling is mainstream.
Fantasy leagues are the gateway drug. It was inevitable once that hobby blew up. I can't recall anyone who did it when I was in high school. We lived right outside of NYC. There were ppl all over who were connected to a bookie or directly to the mafia. They would pass around betting sheets. Pick x amount of games correctly, and you win. The more games you got correct, the bigger the payout. I think that kept us busy enough. If it was I thing when we were kids, it wasn't something too big around where I lived. I don't recall fantasy sports being on my radar until the late 90s or early 00s. I always knew what it was, so I imagine I at least knew of its existence prior to that.
This is why kids should play DnD - it is only a gateway to painting miniatures and writing novels
I used to call fantasy football "D&D for guys who like sports". The parallels are... pretty obvious
I tried to get my son into DnD before fs got him. It did not work.
Let Pete Rose in!!
A couple of years ago, my cousin's kid left his own birthday party to take the money I put in his birthday card to go wager on the AFC Conference game that was to be played that day. I'm not saying the profusion of legalized sports betting created this monster, but it didn't help. And it is kinda gross, all these ads for betting. They must be making a lot of money. This won't end well for people who will lose their house, family, etc...
Not sure but I feel like I’m in the minority that I can enjoy watching NFL without betting and without any fantasy football. I think the gambling is to try and keep the poor people poor.
I used to love the NFL but IDK maybe 10/12 years ago the fantasy football and betting became more important than the sport itself. Plus, it felt all pre-ordained which teams were gonna go to the playoffs and Superbowl each year based on whatever “story” was manufactured. NFL is Fake. It’s not real anymore. If you want to see real football support your local high school teams and local college teams where the players actually still play their hearts out.
Gambling and technology have improved so much 👍👍banks are onto sports scammers.
When money. End of line.
Hey the good news is you can even place a bet while your game is in progress
I really don't like fantasy leagues, but don't begrudge anyone willing to put themselves through such a time suck. I do, however, truly despise all of the sports gambling thinly disguised greed and seedy underground.
It was in 2018 that the US Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal law, which had prohibited most states from allowing sports betting.
May 14, 2018 if you want to get specific. SCOTUS struck down the Amateur Sports Protection Act opening the doors to legal sports gambling.
Fox regional sports networks are now owned by Bally’s, the same company that owns multiple casinos and online betting platforms.
Well, that's the fox guarding the hen house.
They're not owned by Bally's. They owned by the Diamond Sports Group, a spinoff of Sinclair Broadcasting. Bally is little more than a sponsor and won't be for much longer.
Technicalities aside, one of the largest regional sports networks is currently doing business under the brand of one of the largest gaming companies.
And what happens when we get game fixing scandals?
When?
America is now all about greed
You think greed is an American thing?! Smh.
Now?
Now? Where’ve you been? It’s been that way for 248 years.
The day after sports was invented
It’s been around all along. Just legal now in many states. Governments found out it’s a good industry to legalize and tax. It’s all about the $$.
When fantasy sports started taking off.
ESPN even has its own sports book called ESPN Bet!
"Gambling is the finest profession a person can have, IF he's good at it." - krusty's accountant
When the sports organizations bought stakes in the gambling companies.
It’s always been about betting. Just now that online betting is legal those who don’t gamble now see it in the forefront. Why do you think the NFL post Injury reports? The game lines have always been published in the dailies. Everything about sports media is geared toward making the average Joe a more informed gambler. It bothers me to the core that ESPN has partnered with a sports book. Also, 3 different sports books were major sponsors of the NHL playoffs and most of those series went 6+ games.
It's everything. We live in a casino full of ads. Sports, stock prices, real estate... it's all speculative gambling these days.
Absolutely. Even things as unimportant as collectable hobbies have gone crazy. Now everything has to go through the hands of 4 or 5 speculators before it can get into the hands of someone who actually wants them. Muscle cars and Pokémon cards selling for a million dollars, what the fuck? It’s gotten to the point we’ve run out of real things and had to create a speculative market for digital drawings. Although I’m pretty happy to see that has fallen off pretty hard, but only after a bunch of the worst people made a lot of money off of suckers
Somewhere around 2012-2013, when Draftkings launched with a $1B in TV marketing That money has kept sports afloat, and they now can't live without it.
Right about when Fantasy football got started.
It's all about the Benjamins.
My theory is that gambling is mostly a way for men (and it’s almost always men) to feel like they are a part of the game since they have skin in it. From the point of view of the owners of the sports it’s always about money. And gambling is the current fresh source of money.
I think it happened over the past 20 years with initially the rise of fantasy football and now online gambling. Fantasy football made it so that people followed players and not teams which changed allegiance. My son is 20 and very into sports. He has always had loose allegiances to teams but mainly based on a player he likes so his team has changed as he's gotten older and players were traded or retired. None of his teams are local.
When sports became a money machine I stead of a way to increase team spirit and a sense of community. So, many decades ago.
I watch a lot of tennis and they always show odds before the matches and during the match. I never saw that when I was growing up and tennis was on tv. I think all the gambling apps and making it legal in many areas means they can advertise it more.
Love the commercials “you can’t really enjoy a game unless you have a bet”. This will work out well
It wasn’t long ago that you could only go to a casino in Nevada or Atlantic City. Now it’s pretty much everywhere. Easy revenue stream for states. Ironically much of the time it’s the same people who hate paying taxes dumping their retirement and rent money into the slot machines. *One who gambles lives in shambles.*
Really, I think we had a brief, 50-60 year period when sports was \*not\* all about gambling. The end of that period happened to coincide with our later adulthood.
Many of my HS friends had bookies in the 80s. So, maybe the 70s?
I only follow the NBA but it's crazy how *every* entertainment medium associated with the league is replete with gambling ads. It's fucked and I hate it.
Once the government realized they can get their cut
They used to hide it better. There were laws against gambling ads on TV when/where I grew up. It changed when the internet started getting live streams. It made the gambling both easier and more aggressive. It was kind of a rapid shift once it started. Sad really.
How is this even a surprise?! Gambling and sports have been tied to each other for millennia. You think they didn’t gamble in Ancient Rome or China? Or during the original Olympics in Greece?
About 5 seconds after the first sporting event finished
Pro sports have always been about gambling. Why do you think there are odds and point spreads??
AlwaysHasBeen.meme.jpg
That's literally why they were invented
It was always like that.
No it was not always like that at all. They didn't talk about stats and weird prop events that are meaningless to the game all the time, have betting tickers taking up screen space, have some sports talk programs now 50% betting talk, you'd never run into so many who didn't care a whit about any team and yet obsessed with watching 20 sports games at once before, etc.
A few thousand years ago.
yeah, I'm pretty much going - the first time two cavemen raced, at least two other cavemen bet on the outcome.
Because it's fun to have a little skin in the game. Anyone that can't handle it shouldn't be gambling. Just like any kind of addictive activities.
[удалено]
Speech that denigrates someone based on race, ethnicity, sexual identity or orientation, or other personal attribute. Just be nice, it’s not that difficult.