Impact of Legalized Sports Betting: Gambling Conflicts Op-Eds | Point Spreads

It’s occasionally said that a little bit of knowledge about a subject is often worse than no knowledge on the subject. The person who knows a little about a topic usually doesn’t know as much as they believe. That’s being proven to be true on a consistent basis when it comes to sports betting.

There have been countless editorials written about how legalized sports betting has made things worse. Each time there’s inappropriate gambling, editorial writers are quick to pounce. The problem is that these gambling conflicts op-eds writers seldom know what they’re talking about. If anything, legalized sports betting has brought more scrutiny to the games and made it harder

Many gambling conflicts op-eds writers act as though sports betting began in 2018 after PASPA was overturned. That gave states the right to legalize sports betting apps and in-person wagering if they chose to do so. The reality is sports betting has been taking place thousands of years. The book, “Business of Sports Betting,” states the Egyptians bet on fencing matches more than 5,000 years ago. Sports betting also occurred during the first Olympic Games in Rome between 800 and 700 BCE. It’s not nearly as new as some people believe.

When something takes place that long and with so much money involved, there’s bound to be shady things taking place. Sport gambling is in the open now, but sports betting irregularities are usually uncovered the same way as they’ve been for many years. That’s due to the bookies and sportsbooks reporting concerns to the leagues. However, the added transparency with legalized sport betting means schemes are uncovered much more quickly today. Something like the Jontay Porter incident may have never been discovered if betting was relegated to offshore sportsbooks and illegal bookies.

Previous Betting Scandals Were Lengthy

Many of the sports betting scandals of the past 75 years went on far longer than they would today. One of college basketball‘s most famous scandals involved the powerhouse City College of New York 1950-51 team. By the time the investigations were completed, 32 players from seven different schools admitted to taking bribes between 1947 and 1950 and fixing 86 games. A four-year point-shaving scandal would be almost impossible now due to the games being under a microscope.

The Boston College and Tulane basketball point-shaving scandals would have been uncovered long before they were. Nor would Tim Donaghy have been able to see at least a 1.5-point move on 10 straight games he officiated and all of them cover the number had sports betting been legalized at the time he was a referee. Gambling sites would have raised a red flag after the first couple of games.

There are plenty more sports betting scandals that have gone undetected. There are countless rumors of shady things having taken place in professional sports for years. With NFL betting being legal in just Nevada for so many years, it’s unlikely the full extent of game manipulation will ever be known for those games that took place before 2018.

The gambling conflicts op-eds writers need to understand that sports betting has existed much longer than it’s been legalized. Between offshore sportsbooks and illegal bookmakers, anybody wanting to place a bet could do so somehow. Rather than increase the number of shady tactics going on in the sports world, legalized sports betting has made it tougher to manipulate the games. And that’s a good thing.

For gambling news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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