Sports Wagering -- Who is Involved and Why?
Gambling and sports have gone together for over a century, according to a new book called Sports Ethics for Sports Management Professionals, so this is not a new phenomenon at all. But to quote from the book, "Gambling in sports is replete with unethical motives and practices"; and indeed the authors go on to point out that gambling "…is a form of cheating, an act through which the conditions for winning in a sports contest have been unfairly changed in favor of one participant over another" (Thornton, et al., 2010, p. 82). Thornton and colleagues are referring to the "odds" -- often determined by how much money is placed on an individual team or competitor -- but they go a great deal deeper into the issue of sports wagering. This paper covers the issue of sports wagering -- the how, where, and why -- and references cases where sports players and the case where an NBA official bet on games in which he was officiating.
The Sports Wagering Field -- What's Available for Wagering
Thornton explains that gambling poses "major ethical dilemmas for leagues, fans, players, coaches and society in general. Because the media reports all the particulars that wagering sports fans need to know -- point-spreads, player and team information, and injury reports -- one can easily see that sports wagering is not a shadowy, bookie-controlled industry anymore, but in fact an out-in -- the open part of American life.
Back in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, a person wishing to wager found a local friendly bookie and placed bets over the phone, with money up front in the bookie's hands. Some of the book-making operations were run by organized crime and were extremely profitable.
Meanwhile, with the emergence of digital technology in the 1980s and 1990s, wagering has been made very easy for the interested party with cash and dreams of scoring big. Today, the legal rule of thumb is that the only way to place a bet on a sports event is to be in Nevada or Oregon, states that have legalized wagering on sports. But in reality all a wagering person has to do is sign up with any one of a number of online betting portals. There is a process a wagering person has to go through to prove he or she is of age, and that he or she has a legitimate bank account -- and money has to be deposited with the betting portal. Aside from that, it's a smooth ride to spending money on wagering, and to the possibility that it will become an addiction.
Some of the popular betting Web sites include BetPhoenix, BetUs, Bookmaker, Bet Jamaica, Brobury, and BoDog. For example, BoDog offers wagering on college and pro-football, tennis, Mixed Martial Arts, pro-hockey, NASCAR, golf, Cricket, Soccer, Rugby League, Horse Racing, Darts, Boxing Snooker and other sports as well. A person can play Poker at BoDog (a $100,000 "Guaranteed Tournament Every Sunday"), or play Casino, which features online slot machines, games that offer a "Random Jackpot" of $2,000, $6,000, and card games like Blackjack.
Because of the ease with which a person can become involved in online betting, there is always a risk of becoming hooked on the hope of winning while one's savings and earnings slide down the drain like water after a big rainstorm hurtling down the sewer.
Actually the United States Congress passed legislation in 1992 -- the "Professional and amateur Sports Protection Act" -- that prohibits the expansion of legalized sports wagering in the U.S., according to an article in New Directions for Student Services (Rockey, et al., 2006, p. 47). Other legislation has passed through Congress but none have become law. The "Amateur Sports Integrity Act" (2000); the "High School and College Gambling Prohibition Act" (2000); the "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act" (1997); and the "Student Athlete Protection Act" (2000) have all failed to become law. It appears that the gaming industry has done an effective job of lobbying Congress and the executive branch at the right times to prevent laws that might reduce in some way their profits.
College students are known to enjoy wagering on sports. The data shows that because "Internet access is ubiquitous" something like "one-quarter to one-half" of all college students engage in wagering (Rockey, 45). Another survey that Rockey references shows that fraternities in particular are known to have a high percentage of members wagering on sports; in fact 65.4% of fraternity members and only 38.3% of their non-fraternity counterparts were found to be regular wagering students...
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