Remember a few months ago when I wrote a post about how I needed to stop sports gambling? Well, that has proved difficult. At the time, my excuse was that I didn’t want to delete the apps because I wanted to see the outcome of some season-long wagers. Would the Washington Wizards win over 20.5 games? No because the franchise purposely tanked in the attempt to get a better draft pick (and it worked!). Would Sidney Crosby have more points than Jack Hughes? No because Crosby got hurt during the Olympics and didn’t play in 2 of the final 3 games of the regular season to rest for the playoffs. Would the Portland Trailblazers make the playoffs? Hey, I got one right!
My next excuse was that I wanted to wait until I finished reading the book “Everybody Loses” by Danny Funt before deleting the FanDuel and DraftKings apps. The idea is that I would share parts of the book in a blog post in conjunction with stopping sports betting. Although I made the decision to stop following about a dozen people on Twitter who post almost exclusively about sports betting and their picks (and often want you to subscribe to get their best picks), I finished the book last month and still continued to bet.
Finally, on my birthday, I withdrew most of the money from my DraftKings and FanDuel accounts and deleted the apps. I understand that continuing to have a little bit of money (about $25) in each account means that I’m not totally done with sports betting. The sites often have promotions where if you make a $5 or $10 wager, you get 3 months of AppleTV or a full season of NBA Season Pass. Assuming that I make only the one bet to get the subscription, this is a good investment. Maybe not the best rationale, I know.
So what did I learn? If you bet a lot of money, and have success, sportsbooks* can and will limit the amount you wager. If you’re a VIP, sportsbooks will provide all types of incentives…as long as you continue to lose. Now, I don’t fall into either of these categories. As I mentioned in my previous post, most of my bets are $1. Still, I would make 10-20 wagers a day. While I ended up ahead, that’s a lot of time spent on the apps and probably more time following the bets and thinking about the next bets I wanted to make. The sportsbooks have few guardrails and offer little support. Sure, there’s fine print on commercials about addiction and when you login to the apps, a message appears with a phone number to contact if you have a gambling problem, but that’s there to give the sportsbooks some coverage. If you try to sue DraftKings for getting you addicted to sports gambling, they can point to the disclaimer. Of course, the books’ business models need you to continue to bet. It’s a conflict of interest for them to have you stop wagering. And how much are states using money they make from sportsbooks on helping people with gambling addictions? Not as much as they should, and that's probably being generous.
And gambling is addicting. You’re chasing money. You’re chasing the action. Even on my $1 bet, I’ll stick around to the end of an NBA game to see if a team covers a spread or follow a full baseball game to watch if the number of runs are over or under a certain amount. Sports leagues know this which is why they support gambling. Higher ratings mean more money from sponsors and for TV rights. Are the integrity of games under scrutiny? Absolutely. If there’s a bad call, people will wonder if the referee is getting paid by someone. Same if a player misses a tackle or drops a pass. Some players have been banned for making sports bets or throwing a ball to start an inning. While sportsbooks might say that they help track unusual action, and they probably do, they can’t catch everything. Sports leagues are trying to balance a fine line here. They want to say that the increased revenue from sports gambling is good for the leagues and partnering with sportsbooks helps find criminal elements. I mean, it's definitely good for the leagues' bottom lines. However, it's only a matter of time before something truly negative happens. Maybe it's something akin to the Black Sox scandal where members of the team were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.
Maybe it's some superstar that gets caught betting on his or her team. I worry that some disgruntled gambler who blames a player for a loss and physically assaults the player, the player's family, or damages the player's property.
There's a societal issue here too. There are more bankruptcies in states that allow sports betting and who knows how many families and individuals have been hurt from gambling losses. I wrote in December that I’m really concerned about sports betting among teenagers and young adults and particularly my son The Moose who is now 15. He is obsessed with sports and spends way too much time on his phone, primarily following sports. That’s why I deleted the apps. When he turns 18 or 21, I can’t tell him not to gamble when I continue to have them on my phone. I just think of this PSA:
I understand that gambling isn't going away. Sportsbooks actively limiting the amount people wager would be helpful, meaning that they should know if their clients have the means to bet a certain amount. More money into helping people with gambling addictions and to study gambling would be great too. I just don't see this happening anytime soon.
* I’m using sportsbooks as a general term, primarily for sports betting apps. It’s incredibly easy to make bet after bet at any time using your phone. It’s much harder to make instant and impulsive bets if you have to go somewhere in-person.
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