The vast majority of professional sports teams forbid their players from placing bets on sports games. Though each sport has different rules and regulations regarding the gambling, teams do not want their players betting. When the players break these rules, it’s particularly upsetting when they bet on their own teams. Betting on their own team suggests that they have certain ideas of how a game will turn out.
“Currently, the issue with allowing athletes to bet on games is that the amount players bet can signal their degree of confidence in a win. This is tantamount to insider trading in the stock market because players are perceived to have more information on the game’s outcome than a regular bettor,” said Ravi Panguluri, a writer for Diamondback.
Some athletes have been outed recently for sports betting despite the rules set in place. Though most players have only been suspended, some have actually been removed from their teams completely. Even those that continue to play are permanently labeled by their poor decisions. It is puzzling why someone would put their entire livelihood at risk. More than just their careers, these men are giving up their lifelong dreams. These dreams also happen to pay particularly well. Professional athletes can make millions of dollars a year. It’s due to these salaries that many people have viewed the recent betting as sinful greed.
Many of these men aren’t even trying to fix the bets. There may be players who are trying to nefariously win money, rather they are just gambling for the sake of gambling. These players are being unjustly attacked. The general public is ignoring the truth because of its larger implications. The United States has a gambling problem. We have a young gambling problem. With big betting corporations like DraftKings advertising their services on every platform, it’s no surprise that many people are being dragged into the dangerous hands of sports betting.
“In 2023, the fantasy sports and sports betting company DraftKings Inc. recorded an annual revenue of 3.67 billion US dollars worldwide,” according to Statista. If a game is being streamed, a sports betting commercial will be accompanying it. There’s really no way to avoid it. It’s not limited to little games either. DraftKings aired a commercial during the 2024 Super Bowl for heaven’s sake. The commercial even starred Kevin Hart.
“Early data indicates that DraftKings might’ve stolen the market share over the weekend as the most downloaded mobile app in the US on the day of the big game,” said Pat Crawley for MarketBeat.
It’s harmful to use well known and well loved icons to push gambling services. By using a comedian, DraftKings makes sports betting seem like a light-hearted hobby. Even worse, a lot of these betting companies don’t make it clear that they even are gambling services. When I started seeing DraftKings commercials I had to ask my dad what DraftKings was. I wasn’t sure if it was gambling or not because the commercials seemed so casual and clearly targeted towards a younger audience.
The ads are inescapable. While discussing this article on the phone with my dad this past Sunday, a DraftKings commercial began to play in the background because he was watching Sunday football. It wouldn’t be at all difficult for a young sports fanatic to see those sorts of commercials and not ask any questions. There’s supposed to be age restrictions on the sports betting services, but there are clearly ways to bypass them considering how young many of the sports betting addicts are.
“Some of the men calling the helpline in New Jersey are so young that their mothers join them on the line,” said executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey Felicia Grondin in an interview with The Atlantic. It’s not like these young men are having to go to a physical stall to make their bets. A huge part of the issue is that all the access they need is right on their phones. The mobility of DraftKings is a large part of the appeal. It’s very sad that these boys can stay in their rooms and hide their issues from those who can offer support.
The fact that 14 year-olds can bet themselves into debt without anyone knowing they’re on these services in the first place is not okay. The fact that 45 year-old men can bet themselves into debt without anyone knowing isn’t okay. DraftKings and other betting services shouldn’t be this accessible. If a person seeks out these services, it’s their freedom and choice to do so, even if it is perhaps a poor one. However, a person just trying to sit down and watch a football game shouldn’t have to worry about being tempted.
These professional athletes aren’t being punished because they have committed irrevocable wrongs. They are being punished because the public doesn’t want to admit that they are no better. It’s frustrating to see the world condemn and ruin the lives of athletes but then do absolutely nothing to address the root issue.
If you only take issue with gambling when it’s someone richer doing it, it’s time to reconsider that stance. If frustrations spur from an overall distaste for gambling, I can perhaps agree. If the upset is simply because you don’t think professional sports players need any more money, it seems that you’re focusing on the wrong problem.
