It’s hard to listen to sports radio, a game broadcast, sports podcasts, or even attend a game without being inundated with ads for gambling. What was once a verboten topic for sports at all levels has become a “proud partner” of teams, a staple of sports broadcast content, and a welcomed conduit to nearly all sports.
Teams play in arenas with the names of on-line gambling websites and apps. The Wisconsin Athletic Department even has an “Official Casino Partner”. ESPN, NBC, the NBA Network, and others will provide in-game odds, winning percentages, and even recommendations for parlay bets. Our sister station, The Score, is an affiliate of a radio network that offers nothing but betting advice all night and all weekend. A few years ago, this would have been unthinkable–and it would have been the sports leagues themselves that would be leading the charge to shut it down.
The reason that until recently sports leagues, teams, and colleges stayed away from association or even mention of gambling was hard-learned lessons of the past. The most-famous example is the Black Sox Scandal, where members of the Chicago White Sox threw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for payment from gamblers. While the famous Black Sox were acquitted of any criminal wrongdoing by a sympathetic Chicago jury, the Commissioner of Baseball Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned all of them from baseball for life–including Shoeless Joe Jackson (who likely didn’t know what he had signed on to, and outperformed nearly everyone else on both teams).
Baseball got stung again in the 1980’s when Cincinnati Reds Manager Pete Rose was banned for life by Commissioner Bart Giamatti for betting not only on baseball, but on his own team as well. While Rose never bet on the Reds to lose games, he did not bet every game–meaning he likely expected the Reds to lose that day, and likely managed in a way that he would not have if he had money on them to win that night. If Rose was allowed to manage today, he likely would be starring in team-endorsed ads for whatever betting app was paying the Reds to be their “official daily fantasy partner”.
But baseball is not alone in dark gambling history. Boxing is rife with fixed fights and it’s widely-believed that Sonny Liston became heavyweight champion of the world in the 1960’s because of ties to organized crime.
College basketball was shaped in a great way by the City College of New York point-shaving scandal of the early 1950’s, where the NIT and NCAA champions (you could play in both tournaments at the time) were found to be shaving points to benefit gamblers. That convinced the NCAA to adopt a regulatory role, in order to present the college game (and their tournament) as a bastion of “clean competition”. But, Arizona State, Tulane, Boston College, and even Northwestern have had investigations and suspension of players for point shaving in subsequent decades.
The NBA, the first major pro league in the US to announce partnerships with gambling websites, saw referee Tim Donaghy convicted on wire fraud charges tied to game-fixing, where Donaghy used his position on the court to keep games within the point spread for gamblers that were paying him. You would think that would destroy the trust between the league and the fans in knowing that every game is “fair”–but it seems like everyone has completely forgotten about that now.
The argument used now to justify sports’ close ties to gambling is that “players are paid so much, they would never need to fix games for payouts”. But that conveniently diminishes the role that those outside the team can still exert on those between the lines. Illegal gamblers have threatened players’ and their families, or blackmailed college students or low-profile pros to do their bidding.
Consider stories from just the past couple of months: The NCAA is investigating the Temple Owls men’s basketball team for “irregularities” in betting patterns before a game against Alabama-Birmingham this season. Or an investigation into Loyola of Maryland for a person within the men’s basketball program that was accused of a “gambling violation”. That was followed by word that the NBA is investigating (now former) Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter, who is believed to have bet on his own stats in games in which he played. And then came the news that baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani’s translator had “stolen” millions of dollars from his lifelong friend to pay off gambling debts.
Late last year, PGA Tour star Max Homa was heckled in mid-putt by a “fan” that had placed a bet against him making that putt. A perfect example of how those with something riding on the result of a sporting event can have a direct influence on the result of a game.
In each of these cases, the powers that be, or those involved, insisted theirs was an “isolated incident”. But taken as a growing whole, it becomes clear that the wolves are at the door. And may be invited in…if they come with enough money.
It should be pointed out that it is not the leagues, or the teams, or the colleges, or the NCAA that are discovering these acts of “fixing” games. It is the gambling websites and casinos that are reporting this suspicious behavior. But they are not doing it out of concern for the “integrity of the game” or because they “want to see justice done”. They are the only ones monitoring this because they are the only ones who stand to lose any money.
As a fan, are you willing to place your trust in Draft Kings, MGM, or that guy at work who “knows a guy” that will take bets to keep our sports on the up and up? Even I’d be willing to place a few bucks on that not happening.
