Posted on 05/22/2024 6:13:12 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
For decades, Las Vegas was the only place in the country where sports betting was legal. And once upon a time, the men who ran the major sports leagues were terrified of betting. The great fear was that it would corrupt the players, who would be tempted to fix games.
Turns out, those fears were valid. In the last year, there’s been a spate of gambling-related controversies. The NBA is investigating Toronto’s Jontay Porter for taking himself out of two games to boost gamblers betting against his performance. Major League Baseball’s best player, Shohei Ohtani, is under a cloud after his Japanese translator used $4.5 million of Ohtani’s money to pay off gambling debts. (For the moment, at least, the translator is believed to have stolen the money from Ohtani, and he says he never bet on baseball.) And in 2023, the NFL suspended five players for betting on games in their own league.
Perhaps these controversies were inevitable. Because these days, professional sports have a lot to do with Vegas.
The dam broke in 2017, when the National Hockey League put a franchise in Las Vegas, and when the Oakland Raiders relocated to the city—where they play in a stadium where gambling takes place. The following year, a Supreme Court decision opened the doors to sports betting across the country; 38 states have since legalized it. Since then, online sports betting behemoths FanDuel and DraftKing have plastered their logos on the floors of basketball arenas and become major advertisers for televised pro sports events. And this year’s Super Bowl actually took place in the Raiders stadium—yes, the one where gambling takes place.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefp.com ...
Let me just say... I agree wholeheartedly. Prop bets, parlays, you name it. It is GAMBLING, GAMBLING, GAMBLING. Win or lose who cares as long as your bets are covered?! Already border-line players have run afoul of gambling. It is unavoidable that it will continue.
It’s already ruined.
“I’m sorry to sound like a prude, but gambling is a vice that can ruin one’s life..”
Degenerate gamblers have every right to destroy their miserable lives.
Even when ya win, ya may not win.
Woman says casino is refusing to pay $1.2 million jackpot she won playing slots
The elections are rigged, the judicial system is rigged, why not sports?
Exactly.
Professional sports have always been tied to illegal gambling. Since such sports have fallen so far, they can’t survive without legalized gambling.
LET PETE ROSE IN THE HALL OF FAME! IT’S REDICULOUS.
The weak are preyed upon by the greedy evil.
True. But now it's legal.
You’d have A LOT fewer sports if gambling didn’t exist.
Gambling giveth and Gambling taketh away. Blessed be the name of Gambling.
One of my favorite movies. Absolutely unique.
I don’t even watch sports, much less bet on anything. I just don’t get it.
Without gambling, horse racing wouldn’t exist
Let’s be clear: gambling (“Gaming,” as the degenerates like to call it,) runs pro sports and NCAA big time college football. .They control the tv access, soaking the addicts who absolutely have to watch, and will pay obscene prices for the privilege; they control the “competition committees” who keep diddling the rules to generate higher scores, more “action” for the bettors, and make the games more susceptible to the judgment calls of the “officials.”
If sports didn’t exist, people would gamble on something else. I remember my dad gambling on the daily stock market results. I don’t get it - I have no desire to gamble. I’ve never even put a dime on the lottery.
That was an excellent movie.
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