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WSJ: 'America Made a Huge Bet On Sports Gambling. The Backlash Is Here' (msn.com) 75

Posted by EditorDavid from the wanna-bet dept.
In 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the outlawing of sports betting in America.

But the Wall Street Journal reports that since then all the major professional sports bodies "now realize just how much they have to lose as the new era unfolds." "All it takes is for a reasonable fan to go, 'Am I just watching theater, or is this actually sport?' for the credibility of a sport to start crumbling,'" said Declan Hill, an expert on match fixing at the University of New Haven.

Since the prohibition on sports gambling was lifted, leagues that had once viewed betting as an existential threat to their integrity scrambled to partner with gambling companies and brought them into the tent.... The NBA itself also announced a new feature designed to mesh the betting experience with live action: Fans watching games on League Pass, the flagship streaming platform, would be able to opt in to view betting odds on the app's interface and click through to place wagers... Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said that gambling had "gone too far... I personally have had my own instances with some of the sports gamblers," he added, "where they got my telephone number, were sending me crazy messages about where I live, and my kids and all that stuff."

NBA spokesman Mike Bass said that instances of reported harassment related to sports betting are investigated. Then, just days after Haliburton and Bickerstaff's complaints, the NBA found itself grappling with a new case... The league is investigating suspicious activity around [Toronto Raptors forward Jontay] Porter, after app users placed sizable wagers that his totals for points, rebounds and assists in a pair of games would all come in under the lines set by oddsmakers. When Porter's numbers fell below those marks and the bets paid out, it raised a red flag signaling possible irregularities....

The NCAA has turned to state legislatures to impose regulations that would take single players out of gamblers' crosshairs. The group is lobbying to ban player-specific proposition bets that aren't directly related to the final score of the game — the exact kind of wagers at the center of the Porter situation in the NBA
After noticing "the gambling-related negativity taking over his social-media feeds," pro basketball player Tyrese Haliburton gave the Journal his own assessment of how it's affecting the fan base.

"To half the world, I'm just helping them make money on DraftKings."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

WSJ: 'America Made a Huge Bet On Sports Gambling. The Backlash Is Here' More

WSJ: 'America Made a Huge Bet On Sports Gambling. The Backlash Is Here'

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  • Dear America... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by kevin lyda ( 4803 )

    Come on folks. The rest of the world has had sports gambling for years and trundles along just fine.

    You'll all survive.

    • Though usually in the lower leagues and poorer countries where the pay off that the gambling gangs can offer is more likely to be life changing.

      • That was the idea for Jontay Porter, the mentioned NBA player. He's one of the fringe player in the league, so nobody would notice, right? There were millions won on his under-playing, which drew attention. And he did it again. And then again. And he was not very subtle, like the ball dropping towards him, he pushes it to avoid the rebound. Or then suddenly he's "oh my eye is hurting".

        I have no interest in gambling, but game fixing doesn't really happen in big leagues where there's a lot of scrutiny. There'

      • Though usually in the lower leagues and poorer countries...

        You seem to be forgetting about FIFA which despite technically being football's highest governing body seems to operate with the lowest ethical standards and really doesn't appear to care. Mind you that's nothing to do with betting...at least so far.

      • Uhm no, just no. You can literally bet on anything in the U.K. and in the EU, even a bet of a single flake of snow falls on Christmas. There is betting shop on every corner, casinos in the cities, and gambling apps by the hundreds. Please tell us how much know about gambling again.....

        • I'm arguing that we don't get a lot of scandals in soccer. You're right, of course, that gambling is freely available in the UK; it makes us hard to understand the cultural references to illegal betting in US crime dramas... ;)

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yes, but only in America do MAGA gamblers have guns

      • Oh, Americans will bet on gunfights too!

        Even back in 1885 they were gambling on whether yellow-bellied Clint Eastwood would defeat Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen.

    • Re:Dear America... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Tom ( 822 ) on Sunday March 31, 2024 @04:47AM (#64358188) Homepage Journal

      Come on folks. The rest of the world has had sports gambling for years and trundles along just fine.

      Nope.

      The USA never does something. It always overdoes everything it does. Same here.

      Elsewhere in the world, sports gambling is a small side-hustle for fans who like to spice things up a bit. In the USA, everyone is always for their personal ticket into the billionaire's club, the unicorn start-up or the license to print money.

      "sane" is a word that's prohibited entry into the USA and shot at the border should it try. :-)

      • Re:Dear America... (Score:4, Funny)

        by christoban ( 3028573 ) on Sunday March 31, 2024 @05:15AM (#64358208)

        I'll take silly stereotypes for $500, Alex.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          Stereotype accuracy is the single most repeatable and therefore proven theory in social sciences.

          • So you endorse the use of stereotypes?

            • Why not? They can work wonderfully when properly applied. Marketing is an industry built on it.

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

              As much as every other human being, yes. Because unlike the current religion of progressivism like to claim in its dogma, there's no such thing as a human that doesn't use stereotypes actively in their every day existence.

              How do we know humans do that? Biology. We're biologically constructed beings with very limited computational resources. We don't do complex abstractions about anything if we can use shortcuts because of extreme lack of computational resources for complex thinking. And stereotyping is an e

      • Re:Dear America... (Score:4, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 31, 2024 @07:37AM (#64358366)

        Lets see what a Europe gambling crimes search turns up.
        https://www.interpol.int/en/Ne... [interpol.int]
        https://www.theguardian.com/so... [theguardian.com]
        https://www.moneylaunderingnew... [moneylaunderingnews.com]
        https://www.euractiv.com/secti... [euractiv.com]
        https://apnews.com/article/ton... [apnews.com]
        https://www.npr.org/2013/02/12... [npr.org]

        Yeah, everything is fine in Europe.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Tom ( 822 )

          LOL - far from it. Things are pretty fucked up in Europe, along many dimensions.

          But Europeans are a lot less on the "EVERYTHING HAS TO BE THE BEST AND GREATEST EVER !!!!" train.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by quonset ( 4839537 )

        The USA never does something. It always overdoes everything it does.

        Such as Las Vegas. It seems, to me, they're doing things simply for sake of doing things. To see how over the top they can go. It's no longer about the gambling or the shows, now it's, "Look at how big and loud we made something".

        As I've said before, to me it seems Las Vegas is trying too hard. Like someone showing off simply to get attention.

        And then there is the Super Bowl. Do we really need twelve hours of pre-game? Do we need a hal

        • Hyping, pimping, influencers, shills, PACs, it's all designed for profit. Sadly, it works. Unless you're playing that game, you're an outsider. This is the value of social media, boosting ticket sales, mushrooming events--> FOMO.

          The rest of us just glide along, watching the piles of money burn, the booze sold, the hotel rooms, the cities vying for sports and entertainment events, the gambling revenues, the Lambos, People buy into that shit. It's an alt.economy, all based on FOMO and greed.

          But yeah, you c

        • Vegas is an amazing place so I'm not seeing this as a negative.

      • Re:Dear America... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Vintermann ( 400722 ) on Sunday March 31, 2024 @08:43AM (#64358464) Homepage

        In UK, sports gambling is the natural companion of liquor stores, payday lenders and similar businesses preying on / doping down poor people.

        Elsewhere in Europe, it's typically regulated.

      • Re:Dear America... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by test321 ( 8891681 ) on Sunday March 31, 2024 @10:17AM (#64358634)

        It always overdoes everything it does.

        I think the issue is USA is to oscillate between their "Wild west" and "Prohibition" modes, and "Regulation" is generally considered a bad thing. Many other places consider Regulation is the normal thing to do to prevent problems, and regulations such as for gambling are designed simultaneously as when the thing becomes allowed or is noticed as picking up. It's a different idea of what "governing" is about.

        • How is it different? Doesn't it mean the exact same thing?

          • In my opinion, because people of USA value freedom above all, the default of their government is to not intervene, while in some other places freedom is what remains after government set stable conditions for the system.

            Role of the government according to a sports analogy:
            * American system: government is a fair referee who only leave things as is or throw a red card (also in case the public booes a lot) (unhinged freedom is the baseline; occasional prohibition when things go wrong);
            * Another system: governm

            • So you are saying that the American government only intervenes after the damage has been done, if at all, and doesn't plan ahead for the requirements that forseeable demographic changes will require?

              I'm reminded of Benito Mussolini, who wrote that government should do as little as possible, to act only as a referee between the captains of industry who steer the economy, and to keep the nation at war, while religion takes care of those who are not needed by the economy. (In practice, he didn't live up to hi

      • Walk down any town in Ireland and you'll come across a "turf accountant." Sports betting in Ireland is everywhere. Same in the UK.

        I grew up in the US and was there till my late 20s leaving in 1998. But even when I go back, sports betting there is nothing like here.

        If anything, the US hides sports betting and has an unhealthy underground relationship with it. Put it out in the open and be honest about it.

    • if I had mod points.....

      yes the rest of the world works fine with gamblors.

    • Tell us again you didn't read the summary.

    • Sure, the rest of the world has sports betting. You Aldo have to know that a fair bit of money flows to individual athletes, to take specific actions. Just one example: a number of tennis players were caught doing thus. The betting places would push betting on, say, "will player X lose the second set of the current match" - having already paid the player to lose that set.

    • Also in the rest of the world, bribery is commonplace. Sports betting will give more people more reasons to make deals under the table. Maybe not quite so "fine."

  • Something to be said about the culture (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SpzToid ( 869795 ) on Sunday March 31, 2024 @04:19AM (#64358148)
    Before it was legal in New York, people would walk across the bridges far enough [archive.is] to get GeoFenced in New Jersey to place bets. And they made friends hanging out on those long bridges in all kinds of weather.

    Now there's a TV series I like a lot, produced by Chuck Lorre on HBOmax called Bookie, about illegal bookmakers [youtube.com] in Southern California concerned about what happens when/if it becomes legal. It easily got picked up [hollywoodreporter.com] for another season with no pilot ever produced.

    Without illegal sports gambling, we'd have never had Tony Soprano [youtube.com].

    • No one said to ban gambling. It's right there in the summary.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by SpzToid ( 869795 )
        Don't troll me by claiming I stated something I did not.

        • Then what are you suggesting as that's the strong impression you leave when you talk that way.

          I'm not trolling just because you can't make a clear point. If you have a point, state it. Otherwise don't cry about being trolled.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by SpzToid ( 869795 )

            Then what are you suggesting?

            There's something to be said about the [sports gambling] culture. It's written directly in the subject you keep replying to without further edits. The body of my original post details three cultural examples with supporting references. If I'm gonna get grilled like this and have to defend my comments, I'll reserve my thoughts.

  • Just here for the... (Score:4, Funny)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Sunday March 31, 2024 @05:33AM (#64358232)
    I can't stand sports. I'm just here for the gambling.

  • Match fixing is everywhere (Score:5, Interesting)

    by simlox ( 6576120 ) on Sunday March 31, 2024 @07:15AM (#64358340)
    The Chinese try to bet on almost everything - even 2nd division soccer here in Denmark. Once there is betting going on, match fixers move in. The lesser the players or referees make, the easier it is to bribe them. So I think that match fixing is actually less of a problem when there is more regular money and more media attention in a sport.

    • Not just China, but Eastern Europe too, and really much of the world.

      People were betting on amateur soccer matches in Canada. There is a league called the "Canadian Soccer League", which despite its name is actually a regional Division 3 level league which was for most of its history was unaffiliated with FIFA or Canada Soccer Possibly because of its official sounding name, foreigners started betting on the results, which led to a big match fixing scandal.

      The whole culture behind that mystifies me. Why wou

  • Almost as if that fence was there [fs.blog] for some reason after all, lol
  • It's 1 to 12 odds that this article will have most of it's "5" rated comments as "Funny" but if you got $100 to throw away it's worth a shot. (secretly speaks to mods to make sure there's enough comments to sway the odds in whichever way is to the "house's" favour.)
  • ...prior to this ruling during the rule making for Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act I once sat as an expert in a room full of lawyers from each major sports league: the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, and NCAA - the lawyer from the a certain league said "...why don't we just block all gambling transactions?..." Wow.

  • There's a limit to how much money criminals can make by attempting to fix a sporting event. Bookmakers limit maximum bet sizes and winnings depending on the customer, books can be suspended or closed following "unusual betting patterns" with all stakes refunded.

    And how much would it cost to bribe a top-level player to throw a game? Stephen Curry makes $50M/year, how much would you have to give him to make it worth risking his career? Also, in team sports, paying off one player is no guarantee that you'll ge

    • So they snowshoe the bets across many books with proxies and target athletes with money problems like hmmmmm gambling debts.
  • Listen to the whistleblowers podcast about the ref gambling
  • I stopped watching the NFL this past year. I'm not sure if it's due to gambling, but in the past several years it kept feeling more like watching a WWE match than a genuine contest. I don't know if it's always been like that and only my perspective has changed or if there really is something to it, but the games seemed to have more of a backstory to them, the refs seemed to get a lot more involved in each subsequent postseason, and some teams seemed to be propped up as heroes while others portrayed as vil

  • Not tech, why is this space filler on Slashdot? (Score:3)

    by couchslug ( 175151 ) on Sunday March 31, 2024 @02:01PM (#64358982)

    Adults rightly regard gambling and gamblers with utter contempt.
    Sports are part of the entertainment business so ideals have no place there.

    Not a tech subject so why is this shit on Slashdot?

    • It's not filed under "tech", it's filed under "business" and "United States".

      Slashdot is not just tech, it is news for nerds, stuff that matters.

  • I didn't bet on it, nor did I have a say about it. Rich scum got a scam to take money out of poorer folks' pockets, and put it in theirs.
    Do I even have to say, "the house *always* wins"?

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