Sunday, February 25, 2007

The just concluded NBA All-Star game yet again rehashed the sports league
hypocrisy when it comes to gambling. David Stern can rant all he wants
about how betting on sports sullies the image of his league worse than its
millionaire players being unable to avoid getting arrested. The fact is the
leagues conveniently overlook some of the real harm they cause and do
nothing to stop. How can anyone legitimately argue advertising casinos rife
with slot machines is acceptable when sports betting is supposedly so
shameful? Maybe the commissioners need to be informed that slot machines
have created countless times more addicted gamblers than sports betting ever
could. Sports bettors occasionally get in trouble chasing losses, but the
stories of the ruin from machine addictions are many times worse both in
financial harm done and numbers of lives affected. Yet try and find a
professional team which doesn't benefit from gambling advertising in
stadiums or in game broadcasts. You might think the Utah Jazz might be an
exception, but you would be wrong. If you ever catch a televised Jazz
broadcast, you would see as many or more casino advertisements than you
would watching the New York Knicks. New York is about as far from Atlantic
City as Salt Lake City is to the Nevada border, but the Knicks seem to have
a few more interested parties wanting to advertise with them. Maybe the
Mormon church just wants nothing to do with the hypocrisy of the NBA either.
What about fantasy sports? Fantasy sports can be more addicting on average
than sports betting. Studies have shown a large percentage of fantasy
participants spend an hour or more a day in season either researching or
just thinking about strategies to use. How many average gamblers do you
know of who spend an hour a day coming up with strategies regarding who to
bet on? Experts claim a common sign of risk for problem gambling comes from
spending idle time thinking about gambling. How are they missing this
budding addiction from fantasy sports that is fed by the sports leagues? The
leagues love fantasy sports fans. They are the much desired "sticky"
visitor to their web sites, generating advertising revenues sports bettors
don't. Sports bettors apparently have this nasty habit of just checking the
scores while fantasy bettors spend hours searching for crucial numbers like
kicking stats. Many would say fantasy sports isn't financially draining like
sports betting, but studies suggest otherwise. Fantasy sports participants
often spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on their teams, often
exceeding amounts they could win in prize money just to look smarter than
the competition. Some sports gamblers might be dumb, but none I have ever
heard of have bet $500 to get back a total of $350.

Whenever these commissioners tell you sports betting is evil and ruins the
carefully crafted image of their sport, just think of the unspoken harm they
cause. Their hands are dirty from the addictions they promote and push to
their benefit. Betting on sports is a sin, but buying a baseball themed
instant lottery ticket is a virtue?

The sports leagues spend money to warn of the dangers of betting on sports,
but when are they going to take responsibility for the addictions they
support with fantasy sports. Maybe it's time to produce some public service
warning messages for fantasy participants?

In the meantime thinking about the hypocrisy just might be a sign of being
addicted to anxiety. To kick such a habit make sure when the NCAA website
in a few weeks posts brackets for office pools, you fill them out and put
your money into the prize pool with great joy. Celebrate the fact you won't
get fired like you are some $2 million a year football coach who didn't get
the right memo.