Sports betting is in the news again, as a corrupting force in American culture. Federal prosecutors charged current and former NBA players and others with fraud for rigging games and selling insider information.
But even if the recent massive increase in online betting didn’t entwine the Mafia with professional athletes, we should be appalled that they exist.
NBA STARS, COACH AMONG 31 ARRESTED IN FBI SPORTS BETTING CRACKDOWN
Because we live in a hyperindividualistic age, it’s common to say, “Why do you care if other people spend their time and money on baseball prop bets?” After all, we Americans try to let other people live their lives.
But we should care, because we should be angry when businesses are making money by exploiting people and addicting them.
When you hear the ads promising free bets and that “if your team loses, you still win, as long as either team scores a touchdown,” you know that they’re peddling something bad.
I have long been grossed out by the online sportsbooks and the gambling apps because I know their business model is fooling unsavvy customers and addicting young men. You know it’s about exploiting the unsavvy because they ban the savvy. The Washington Post reported a few years ago:
“Many U.S. sportsbook operators are seeking to boost profits by weeding out winning customers. Bettors who show signs of savvy are being limited faster and more aggressively than in the past, based on interviews with 20 bookmakers and accomplished bettors.”
This is standard practice in Vegas, I am told. It also highlights how obviously rigged these games all are. Nate Silver has a good explanation here of how rigged the game is.
Now think about the morality here. If your brother ran one of these apps and admitted to you that they are engineered to become addictive and that they are exploitative and rigged, would you shrug your shoulders and say, “Capitalism! Every customer is a willing customer!”?
Or would you say, “Man, repent, change your ways! You are ruining people’s lives!”?
NBA STARS, COACH AMONG 31 ARRESTED IN FBI SPORTS BETTING CRACKDOWN
Along those lines, we ought to shame all otherwise reputable people and institutions that lend their reputation and name to these apps and sportsbooks.
Your local sports guy voices the ads for parlays and prop bets? He should be embarrassed. MLB has official betting partners? Their executives should be asked about this at every opportunity. If you run into some ESPN talking head, ask him how he feels being, in effect, an ad man for a business that is inherently corrupt and exploitative.