The NFL is running way too many sports betting ads
Tom Joyce
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If you have watched an NFL game in the past two weeks, then odds are you saw some ads for sports gambling apps. A lot of ads.
NFL broadcasts can show up to six commercials for sports gambling companies, according to the league’s self-imposed rules, meaning the league has bombarded families with gambling advertisements.
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Advertisements even employ bankable stars, such as Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, Baseball Hall of Famer David Ortiz, future Football Hall of Famer Rob Gronkowski, and comedian Kevin Hart.
The sports betting industry benefits from these ads as it turns more sports fans into recreational gamblers. However, these ads are bad for the people who watch them, and the NFL should tone them down.
The unfortunate reality of sports gambling is that it is an industry designed to take money from working people and make money for the sportsbooks, not the other way around. Nearly everyone who bets on sports loses money, meaning it is an industry that makes working people poorer while providing them with no tangible benefit; only 3% to 5% of sports betters make money in the long run, according to Sit Picks.
Although making money long-term in sports gambling is easy if one solely capitalizes on risk-free, matched betting, using profit boosts and bonus bets on mobile sportsbooks to create arbitrage opportunities, most people do not and will not employ this strategy. They will merely try to beat teams of expert oddsmakers attempting to set every betting line in the sportsbooks’ favor, a near-impossible task for the casual fan.
Not only are these gambling losses bad for people’s wallets, making them poorer, but losses can also hurt people’s mental health. Mental health is already bad enough in the country, and suicides continue to rise, so these commercials are irresponsible. Plus, pushing gambling onto the masses will lead to more people, particularly young men, becoming problem gamblers.
Additionally, exposing children to gambling ads is harmful. It makes them more likely to gamble underage and become problem gamblers later in life. Families enjoy watching football on television, meaning these sportsbooks are advertising to children, even if they are not the primary target.
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We are unlikely to see sportsbooks or the NFL abolish sports betting ads entirely, as they both profit from the endeavor while nearly everyone else loses. However, six sportsbook ads per game is excessive. If the league refuses to abolish these ads, it should reduce their frequency or limit them to the second half of night games when most young children are in bed.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.