The Problem with Sports Betting
‘It’s a lock’
‘I’ll bet it if you do too’
‘He’s due for a great game’
These are all things you may hear from people who have been pulled into the exploding world of sports gambling.
In the past decade, and especially in recent years, the sports world has been taken by storm with the rise of sports betting. Fans can now practically place bets on anything they want, such as MLB games, ESports, and even the color of the gatorade that is dumped on the winning coach at the Superbowl.
With so many options to bet on and games happening nearly every day, the global sports betting market has far surpassed the mark of a $200 billion industry, according to Statista. However, similar to any industry that becomes this large, there are negative effects that come along with the growth.
With the majority of sportsbooks in the United States requiring you to be 21 years old to begin legally betting, users start gambling at a very vulnerable time. Many bettors start when they are in college and need extra money. Knowing this, sports books such as DraftKings will offer promos to new bettors such as matching their first deposit in bonus bets. Young bettors many times see offers like this as a great incentive to start since they believe they are getting ‘free’ money.
Generally, after they make a few bets, users’ will start to believe they can make more and more money. At this point is where sports betting can quickly turn into an addiction before someone even realizes. Currently, there are around 6 million people in the United States with a gambling disorder, and that number is only continuing to rise.
High Point University student Drew McCormack, who sports bets himself, commented on these situations saying, “It’s pretty easy to get addicted to the rush of winning … you’re not realizing how much money you’re putting at risk … that’s why they have those helplines for gamblers. I’d say that it’s incredibly addicting”.
That ‘rush of winning’ is what Drew says is the leading factor to keeping bettors, especially new and younger ones, addicted. Even after losing several bets in a row, the rush of hitting that one big bet is enough to make them disregard how much money they have been losing. Even when bettors know they most likely won’t win money, with barely any bettors actually profiting in the long run, they will continue with the belief that they are just a few bets away from winning big.
“I’ve been deep in a hole before and just continued to bet. When I have a bad week betting I just think that surely the next week can’t be as bad, and I’ll bet more the next week to make it up. I’ve even bet on the more random things like eSports just because I want something new to bet on”, Jacob Weitzman laughed.
Fans who bet daily or weekly have this problem more and more as they continue to bet more frequently. In the future, it does not appear that chronic bettors will stop trying to make their lost money back.
“I mean, sports betting is going to keep growing in the next decade and so on … if the majority of people right now are losing money I don’t see how that would change in the future if betting is going to keep growing at this rate. Vegas makes so much money that they won’t let betting die out anytime soon”, said Drew McCormack.
So, what is the solution?
Obviously, the sports betting world has become far too popular and engrained in states economies at this point for it to be completly abolished. However, one thing that can help is addressing the addiction side of the industry. Many of the states who rushed to legalize sports betting failed to allocate proper funding into resources for help. Putting funding into these resources could help gamblers to acknowledge their problem and either stop or learn how to responsibly control their betting habits.
Another, and possibly larger, solution would be to drastically decrease the amount of advertising done by sports books. It is practically impossible to watch a game or sports show on tv without being bombarded by betting advertising whether it be through commercials or on the program itself. The main problem with this is that it is also being advertised to young people watching the games. This ‘get rich quick’ type of advertising can get sports fans hooked at a young age and have detrimental effects.
Like I stated before, it would be foolish to think that the solution would be for sports betting to disappear. However, with funding towards resources for gambling addicts and a severe decrease in advertising, the problem may be able to be contained.
