Sports betting was once a form of entertainment. That story could be long gone with people looking at it differently and operators evolving with heavy monetization. They have, so far, deployed every possible model to boost their financials – odds, spreads, and parlays. They are not necessarily bad, but the fact that fans often get entangled on that web is alarming.
The sports industry is also fighting the sports betting segment. Recent news about Ippei Mizuhara gambling on the money Shohei Ohtani gave him sparked major headlines. Ippei is currently negotiating a guilty plea, but the other side showcases that the water may be deeper than it feels. There is speculation that Ohtani was involved in the gambling scene, which he later reported as theft or a loan wrongly used by Mizuhara.
At the surface, the core discussion remains if sports betting has been let too loose to the extent that it is beyond anyone’s control.
Oakland A’s franchise’s move to Las Vegas is drawing attention for obvious reasons. It can likely boost the sports betting market in Las Vegas. Sports betting has generated a revenue of more than $11 billion with a constant rise in value since it got the green signal from the Supreme Court.
According to the betting news, The current trend is pretty much the opposite of the 1800s – when pursuing sports was the domain of amateurs, where what mattered was the final score and not what anyone got at hand. Professionalism with payments in cash, irrespective of the mode, was considered a filthy pursuit. These are sides that several reports have put on the table. Drawing a comparison to that aspect certainly puts modern trends to shame.
The hint is that athletes may be too involved in pursuing financials beyond their usual cuts. Assumption includes an athlete falling into the water stream and surrendering to it because of his poor tuning with a bookie. They can let go of a throw for a few bucks if that gets their bookie off their shoulders. What’s happening today has been defined as the hyper-monetization of sports via activities that happen outside the field.
Organizing sports betting or gambling is one way to go about it for entertainment. Sports betting is still a form of entertainment that a circle of friends take up when they gather at someone’s house or probably a fancy bar after a long working hour. It takes a downturn when there is direct involvement, which ruins the spirit of the game and the very existence of sportsmanship.
Sports betting has gone mainstream, enabling states to collect revenues and utilize them for the betterment of the region. There also has to be a balance between gambling problems and stringent regulations to retain the integrity and honesty of sports.
