Our Entire Society Is Becoming Addicted to Sports Gambling – By Alex Shephard (The New Republic) / April 3, 2024
Athletes are being caught in scandals, yes, but the bigger scandal is that the ease and prevalence of betting is driving a huge rise in addiction—and neither the leagues nor our politicians care.
As the MLB season ramps up and NBA season winds down, both leagues are making headlines with rather bizarre gambling scandals. ESPN revealed last month that at least $4.5 million was sent to an illegal bookmaker from the bank account of baseball’s best player, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani; his interpreter and longtime friend took responsibility for the bets and was promptly fired. In the NBA, meanwhile, Toronto Raptors benchwarmer Jontay Porter is being investigated after there was an unusual surge in prop bets on his performance (points, rebounds, etc.) for two games earlier this year in which he exited early due to injury or illness.
The Ohtani and Porter scandals are being treated as wake-up calls about the wildfire spread of gambling in recent years: that it might pose an existential risk to the integrity of sports themselves. But that should be the least of our worries. Only six years since the Supreme Court opened the floodgates, it’s become abundantly clear that sports gambling is having a ruinous effect on American society—and that the leagues, team owners, and state and national politicians are now too deeply enmeshed with the industry to do anything about it.
Thirty eight states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, have legalized sports gambling since 2018, when the court opened the door to legalization. Most of these states have also legalized mobile betting, typically done on apps like DraftKings and FanDuel, or via online casinos. In New York, where I live, you don’t have to travel anywhere or even call anyone to place a bet; all you have to do is download an app. In some cases, the opportunity to bet is almost unavoidable for sports fans: In D.C., in a nationwide first, a Caesar’s sportsbook operates within the very arena where the Wizards and Capitals play.
CONTINUE > https://newrepublic.com/article/180373/ohtani-sports-gambling-addiction-crisis
