Sports betting has undoubtedly changed the sports world, but is this change for the better or the worse? On one hand, sports betting has expanded the profitability and visibility of sports, bringing more money in for players, organizations, and leagues alike. However, with the uptick in viewership and attention to games, the seriousness with which people take their bets has downsides. There is an increased number of hateful messages being sent to athletes of all sports, and the mental health of athletes is sharply affected.
In 2020, consulting firm Altman Solon released a study involving 14,000 people from around the world and their relationship to both sports and sports betting. The study found that in the U.S., 88% of bettors regularly watched sports while only 41% of non-bettors did. Parlays and in-game bets have increased the fervor and stakes with which viewers pay attention to games. In 2022, Variety Intelligence released a study on the correlation between sports betting and higher engagement rates on sports games. The study found that 52% of millennials would continue watching a blowout game if they had placed a bet, while only 32% would continue if they didn’t have a bet placed. While viewership numbers have increased, has sports betting become dangerous to both bettors and athletes? There can be great joy in watching your favorite team win, and making some money off of it, too. But when people solely watch games to make a few bucks, what happens to the joy of sports?
Most fans cheer for the team they grew up watching, have family connections to, or that represents their hometown. However, Variety Intelligence shows that a significant percentage of people of all ages become fans of new teams due to sports betting. 24% of Gen Z bettors, 30% of Millennial bettors, and 22% of Gen-X bettors became fans of new sports teams due to betting. While sports betting has improved the quality of watching for many fans, it also trivializes a sport you love, making it less about supporting the team you root for and more about making money.
After the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on state-authorized sports betting in 2018, states across the country gained the ability to legalize and regulate sports gambling on their own terms. Thirty-eight states permit sports betting, thirty of them allowing people to place bets from their phones. The increase in permittance means an increase in gambling addictions and addiction crises. NBC News reports that there is an increase in calls to the gambling addiction hotlines across the country. These calls include people who are losing their homes, filing for bankruptcy, or destroying their relationships. A YouGov survey discovered that 31% of sports betters wager over 100 dollars each month. A recent Investopedia study found that bankruptcy filings increased by approximately 28% within four years of legislation in states that legalized online sports betting. According to Legal Sports Report, market leaders FanDuel and DraftKings have generated 40 billion dollars in the thirty-eight states where sports betting is legal. Americans have wagered more than 450 billion dollars since the legalization of sports betting in 2018. An associate professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management told Investopedia that researchers found that as people increased their spending on sports betting and gambling, their investments and savings declined significantly. Net investments in states that allowed gambling decreased by 14% in households.
With an increase in sports betting, states are making more money due to the taxes placed on bets. In 2023, states made 1.8 billion dollars from taxes on sports bets, helping to fund education, counseling resources for gambling addictions, and infrastructure. Industry leaders have also contributed to addressing challenges. DraftKings, FanDuel, and Bally’s worked together to form the Responsible Online Gaming Association, investing a total of 20 million dollars to work to promote responsible online gaming and to address problem gambling as the sports betting industry grows. Although it is a step forward, the amount of preventative measures for uncontrolled and reckless betting is severely lacking.
Gambling of any kind is a pendulum of unpredictability and uncertainty. People can go from doing extremely well to poorly in a short span of time, or vice versa. However, Sports betting doesn’t just affect the bettors; it affects the athletes as well. When someone loses their hard-earned money in a sports bet, they often take their frustration out on the athletes involved in the game. For example, according to an article by the NCAA, twelve days after North Carolina legalized sports betting, Armando Bacot from North Carolina’s men’s basketball team received sports betting-related abuse via social media in personal messages. The NCAA has worked to protect athletes’ mental health and, with Signify Health, to address harassment. They found that one in three athletes have received abusive messages from individuals invested in betting outcomes, and that 90% of harassment is produced online. Across the Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball championships, Signify AI flagged over 54,000 comments or posts for potential threats or abuse towards an athlete. Of the 54,000, 4,000 were confirmed as threatening or abusive. Women’s basketball players received three times as many threats as male athletes; there were more than 540 abusive betting-related messages sent to basketball student-athletes of both genders, some even being death threats. Not only are athletes affected, but officials, coaches, administrators, and other sports-related employees have been harassed related to their involvement in competitions.
While some people find immense joy and success from sports gambling, it costs others their livelihoods. Gambling addictions have increased since sports betting became legal, as well as hateful messages to athletes and people associated with making competitive sports happen. So what can be done? The NCAA has had many initiatives, including the Draw the Line campaign, to help protect the mental health and well-being of athletes. The NCAA is calling for a ban on “proposition bets,” which are linked to specific athletes, like if Lebron will score over 30 in a game or if George Kittle scores the first touchdown, not the final result. Four states have banned proposition bets on specific collegiate athletes, including Ohio, Vermont, Louisiana, and Maryland.
Overall, sports betting is a double-edged sword. While fun and rewarding for some, it has detrimental effects on others. Which is stronger, the positive or the negative? Although I believe the bankruptcy and death threats to athletes point to the negative, and gambling always has downsides, it is possible for sports betting to be safe and enjoyable for all. However, stricter control, regulation, and preventative measures must be implemented to ensure that sports betting is safe for both the bettors and the athletes.
