RYAN DUNNING
Special to The Leader
People love gambling.
The thrill of risking everything for a chance to make huge sums of money excites and invigorates people everywhere, and sports fans are no exception.
Whether it’s millions of dollars won and lost at the Kentucky Derby to your (probably illegal) March Madness bracket pool, many sports fans have had experiences with gambling in the past.
It has helped contribute to the rise of many websites and sports blogs, most notably Barstool Sports, which started as a free sports betting pamphlet.
For years, betting on sports was almost completely illegal, and people had to use loopholes to place bets and win money off major sporting events.
But, in 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a 1992 ban on sports betting violated people’s rights, and gambling fans across the country rejoiced.
Since then, several states have passed legislation to allow sports betting, and over a dozen more have worked on bills to allow it as well.
New York is one such state.
Embracing the new law change hasn’t been limited to state governments and fans, however.
Many of the major sport leagues have come out in public support of sports gambling.
In a 2014 New York Times op-ed, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said, “I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated.”
The MLS commissioner Don Garber sees gambling as a chance to gain popularity, and the MLB commissioner recognizes the amount of illegal betting makes opposition to legalization meaningless.
The only league to maintain public opposition to sports gambling is the NFL, furthering their reputation as the “No Fun League.”
Commissioner Roger Goodell, a figure hated pretty unanimously by NFL fans around the country, has continued the long-held idea that betting in major sports markets would lead to fixing games.
But even the No Fun League is setting itself up to support gambling, with the Oakland Raiders set to move to Las Vegas in 2020.
Is this the direction that sports should be taking? Or will legalized sports gambling create more problems than it’s worth?
Proponents of both sides have made rational arguments to support their positions.
The biggest arguments against sports betting are based on the simple premise that it will harm the integrity of the game.
These arguments cite major scandals, such as Pete Rose betting on games and NBA referee Tim Donaghy betting on games in 2007.
Advocates of legalization argue that it’s better to legalize and regulate it than to have it happen illegally.