Gambling probe in NBA spreads
- Thread starter Eurocat
- Start date
There has to be significant consequences for this, Indefinite suspensions without pay for anyone involved at any level would be the absolute bare minimum and they should be leaning more to permanent banning with potential jail time for many if not all.
Then they need to look into other pro sports to see if something similar is happening. In addition, college and even possibly HS needs to be checked to see if anything similar is occurring,
The Athletic's hoops newsletter, the Bounce, had a link to a scary article about the renewed investigation. Seems that some Lakers' employee(s) may have notified gamblers that LBJ was not going to play in a game . . . and then he didn't play that night. The proliferation of gambling, and specifically prop betting on individual players, appears to be a major problem.
Where there's gambling there are abuses. End of story. MLB was death on gambling for a reason. We are now in a time where greed exceeds good judgement by management. It is as all downhill from here. Guaranteed there are lots of cockroaches and growing, all scurrying into hiding for now.
Nothing is more sickening than watching local MLB and NBA broadcast crews have to read the stupid gambling promos during every game. That these leagues have embraced these evil dollars with not a single ounce of thought about whether it was the right thing for their fans or the game speaks volumes of where we are as a society.
It’s better than watching Pete Davidson’s Discover commercials.
The NFL is the most popular league because of gambling. Is anyone going to watch the Panthers against the Falcons because they care about the outcome ( outside of their specific fans)? You are living in a cave if you think betting wasn’t rampant before the advent of on-line gaming. It’s all about money. The leagues and the government wanted a piece of the pie. Lotteries, slot machines, the State is getting their piece, so it’s here to stay in some form. Blame the States if you want because they are grabbing their fair share and then some. Our wonderful State of Illinois just put an additional tax on on-line sports betting. Evil money, comment on our society, I guess you could think that, but you have an option to not participate.
There are always a few growing pains with something like this as the avaricious get caught and outed. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind seeing the hyper specific prop vets go away. The companies were just asking for it with the ball/strike props and the like.
Basketball has had several point shaving scandals prior to legal betting. A big part of this scandal involves illegal, mob run card games. The NBA has also had a series of scandals, cheating, and reffing scandals for literally decades, this is just the latest thing, so the NBA having issues is nothing new.
The leagues will adjust, the penalties will be insanely severe for the perpetrators, and things will move on.
The player prop bets on things like balls and strikes are nearly impossible to police. We don’t need those prop bets.
I know sports gambling is not new, but the more proliferative it is, the more people get caught up in it. What I hate is how easy these apps make it to gamble and how easy it is for kids and young adults who have not fully developed yet to get caught up in it.
I totally agree about the kids. They start with "innocent" video games and then move on to the thrill of gambling. It's neuroscience and we need to put an end to it.
I don't care about gambling, I just think the sports organizations embracing and profiting from it is a mistake. It sends the message, intended or not, to the people under their umbrella that gambling is part of the sport. MLB on the other hand has clearly sent the message that if someone is caught gambling they get the death sentence. Even with that their enforcement hasn't been perfect but pretty darn good.
You can’t put a full body condom around people. 16 year olds drive cars, sometimes too fast, sometimes with serious consequences for them and others. Some kids smoke too much weed or drink too much. Some kids eat too much or eat to little. As parents, we try to teach our children about consequences and evils of excess. I can legally buy a gun, doesn’t mean I can shoot people or threaten them. Shouldn’t people be accountable for their decisions instead of blaming some societal issues for their choices?
Some adults do those things too much too, even! People are responsible for themselves.
I'm not talking about banning things. I understand your overall point. What I hate to see are these leagues effectively celebrating gambling. That's the part I don't understand. Hell.... I'd much rather these broadcast teams advertising condoms at the end of the first quarter instead of the Daily Double of the game ********.
People should be accountable to the laws and accepted norms that we choose to set as a civil society. But some things still rise to the level of societal issues, in many areas, and for many reasons (both of which we can’t discuss here). There’s blame to share when we let these worsen to the detriment of many.
Not sure why the leagues wouldn’t embrace that partnership given all the money being made off their product. They’re going to have to continue to increase law enforcement communication as well when they fail to land smoking guns in these no-subpoena investigations like the Classe one
Because there is absolutely nothing redeeming about it at all. They know the danger that gambling presents to the overall well-being of their enterprise. It's a short-term money grab that ignores the potential long-term problems.
1. WHy does the leagues taking sponsorship revenue make it any worse or change anything compared to them not taking the revenue and the gambling continuing? I could just as easily argue a good working relationship with the books gives the leagues more ability to investigate wrongdoing than they wouldn't without a good relationship. If sports gambling is legal and permitted, why shouldn't the leagues be involved in their own sport?
2. How is it any different than a million other things the league does? Is it equally short sighted to be in China? Dubai?