Gambling problem? That’s a conspicuously ironic question tacked onto those relentless ads that invite sports talk radio listeners to sample “risk-free” wagering.
According to the National Council on Gambling Problems, the rate of addiction among sports bettors is at least twice that of gamblers in general. So those ads essentially are Sirens’ songs to a potentially vulnerable audience not lashed to the mast to avoid sailing into the trap of compulsion.
Since May 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban prohibiting sports gambling in most states, 22 states and the District of Columbia have rushed to legalize the activity. Radio Matters, the Radio Advertising Bureau’s blog, reported a subsequent stampede, “especially on sports format stations,” to accept advertising from sportsbook operators.
Gambling problem? Experts on the issue see the ads as nothing less than greasing the skids for trouble, the kind of temptation that beer ads present to alcoholics or the enticing effect fast food marketing has on those with unhealthy eating habits. More than that: The ads are meant to bring a new generation into the game—because the more people hooked on betting, the more money to be made.
Professional sports leagues, long vociferously opposed to taking the Las Vegas model nationwide, suddenly see the financial wisdom in boarding the bandwagon. As Daniel Wallach, director of the University of New Hampshire School of Law’s Sports Wagering and Integrity Program, recently told The New York Times, “All sports gambling derives from the product the leagues put on, and there’s an upside [the leagues] don’t want to leave on the table. That would be bad for business.”
Legalized sports betting, a Nielsen Sports study found last year, “will increase fan engagement and expand interest in pro and college events….adults who bet on the NFL watch 19 more regular season games than those who don’t.” It follows, Nielsen reported, that advertisers “foresee greater market share by getting into the action.”
Everybody gets richer—including counselors in the gambling addiction business.
As a sports journalist—and, by definition, a sports enthusiast—my curmudgeonly reaction to these developments aligns with the Casino.org website prediction that “legalized gambling on sports will gradually change American sports. As with everything that involves money, the sports industry will become even more commercialized than it is now. In a slow but consistent process, the focus on American sports will become betting rather than the game itself. Anyone who has ever gambled on a sporting event knows that once you place a bet, the focus of the game suddenly becomes money, not the game. And that’s not what sports is about.”
It appears inevitable, furthermore, that there will be an increase in what National Council of Gambling Problems executive director Keith Whyte calls “in play”—urging gamblers to bet on developments during a game, whether a certain player will score a basket in the next five seconds, or who will convert the first three-pointer in a quarter. That keeps the wagerers’ adrenaline flowing and diminishes the importance of final scores, even point spreads.
Bet on this: The preponderance of betting adds “is going to be a big issue,” Whyte told the Associated Press recently. “There’s heightened concern for people struggling with gambling addiction and relapse.”
Lots of luck with that.