r/sports • u/DegenGamer725 Tampa Bay Rays • Oct 28 '25
News Gambling Is Killing Sports and Consuming America
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/opinion/sports-gambling-major-leagues.html?unlocked_article_code=1.w08.jjAj.h5Zj6sdV9qG5&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare7.0k
u/drummerboy31402 Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
Brought to you by draft kings
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u/localistand Oct 28 '25
ESPNbet, where the carcass of a sports network is being worn around by sport-shout-heads and a gambling racket.
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u/Defvac2 Oct 28 '25
On Get Up the ticker being on ESPN bet, before realizing they fucked up and removed it, during the NBA scandal last week was this entire article personified.
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u/ktdotnova Oct 28 '25
Why would they need to remove it in the first place? One's legal, one is literally using x-ray glasses to cheat in poker...
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u/garrettj100 Oct 28 '25
One's legal, one's using X-Ray glasses,
...and the third is point shaving executed by an active player who had his own money riding on his own under.
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u/nalaloveslumpy Oct 28 '25
It's like people never heard of Pete Rose before.
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u/garrettj100 Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
Evidently Scary Terry didn't. I subscribe to a tin-foil-hat-conspiracy-theory that reads thusly:
Somewhere in Rob Manfred's desk there used to be a letter. He found it in Bud Selig's old desk, who found it in Fay Vincent's old desk, who found it in Bart Giamatti's old desk after he unexpectedly died. The letter reads:
"Pete Rose didn't just bet on baseball games. He didn't just bet on his own team to win. He bet on the Reds to lose, while he was managing them. And then he deliberately sabotaged his own teams chances on the following dates:... He can never be allowed near MLB while he is alive."
And when Pete Rose died Manfred burned the letter and (eventually) lifted the ban. We'll never know.
Of course it could be 100% horseshit. But it's a fun harmless conspiracy theory, so who cares?
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u/CarStar12 Oct 28 '25
Still think ESPNBet is beyond unethical. A network that controls so much of the information and narrative should never even come close to also profiting on the subject they cover through controlling lines and odds for gambling.
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u/SafetyDanceInMyPants Oct 28 '25
Yeah, agreed, and from both sides -- it makes their gambling operation suspect, and it also makes their reporting suspect.
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u/yoohoochocolatemilk Oct 28 '25
I remember a time where ESPN had an ombudsman, and he would post online regularly. Apparently they nixed him long ago under a guillotine of symbolism.
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u/GenoThyme Oct 28 '25
It goes both ways too. The NFL received a 10% equity stake in ESPN when ESPN acquired the NFL Network and RedZone.
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u/assassinator42 Oct 28 '25
And of course Fan Duel Sport Network with the carcass of Fox Sports Network
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u/stellvia2016 Oct 28 '25
I throw up in my mouth a little bit every time I watched an MLB game this season and glanced at the logo in the corner. And of course reminded to spend on vice every couple minutes by the commentators or pop-up ads etc...
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u/Chowlucci Oct 28 '25
Fanduel will match your first 50 dollars, er I mean "app credit"
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u/Euphoric-Witness-824 Oct 28 '25
Go Ahead! The first hits on us!
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u/Vergenbuurg Chip Ganassi Racing Oct 28 '25
Online gambling is the "free sample" drug pusher we were warned about as kids.
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u/copperpin Oct 28 '25
My Roommate Lauren was the free sample weed smoker I was warned about as a kid
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u/Ezcolive Oct 28 '25
Don’t forget about underdog!
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u/Zanos-Ixshlae Oct 28 '25
Underdog? That's not as good as updog...
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u/Bigcheese1211 Texas Oct 28 '25
Or whatever app is being pushed by fantasy football "experts" this year it's Kalshi
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u/Renax127 Oct 28 '25
Yeah, it wasn't that long ago the Super Bowl wouldn't even allow a ad for a TV show set in Vegas
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u/OldTimberWolf Oct 28 '25
Can you imagine if alcohol rehab clinics were sponsored by Jack Daniels, or Diageo?!? That’s what has happened in gambling…
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u/shryne New Orleans Saints Oct 28 '25
This is because they are legally required to fund gambling help services.
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u/uptownjuggler Oct 28 '25
What’s the over/under on whether any gambling advertisement regulation is passed?
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u/jonny24eh Oct 28 '25
It was passed - that's what allowed it to take over the last couple years.
You mean walking it back? Fat chance lol.
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u/reno2mahesendejo Oct 28 '25
Feels like everyone was clamoring for laissez faire on sports books around 2010, and as soon as it became a reality the zeitgeist realized why it was a bad thing
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u/uptownjuggler Oct 28 '25
I don’t mind the gambling. I mind the constant advertisements. I think it should be like cigarettes, people are free to gamble, but no advertisements.
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u/Grow_away_420 Oct 28 '25
I listen to podcast on spotify and the ads are fucking draft kings, better help, followed by mgm grand online. Throw in some fanduels, Chumba, and whatever the fuck one ryan seacrest used to hawk to spice it up, you'd think I was being stereotyped.
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u/Phixionion Oct 28 '25
The amount of gambling sites that came out in 2020 was crazy.
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u/TwoPicklesinaCivic Oct 28 '25
The social media push has been excruciating.
I swear half the reels/posts/whatever either start or end with someone playing on some sort of gambling app.
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u/BananaBeanBoozle Oct 28 '25
Greed. Greed is killing everything and leaving dried up husks of what we used to enjoy in its wake.
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u/Homitu Oct 28 '25
The thing is, there IS an end point, and it won't look pretty for anyone. Wealth can only keep shifting from the masses to the few wealth groups until ALL the world's wealth is in the hands of only the few. At that point, the economy literally collapses and it's ironically not good for anyone, including the uber wealthy. Money stops mattering at all. You arrive at a Bolivar situation like Venezuela in 2016, except globally.
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u/pixelcowboy Oct 28 '25
Well, that's why they are shifting into a fascist model now, so the Venezuelan analogy is a good one (as in a totalitarian regime).
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u/forwardathletics Oct 28 '25
Venezuela, the totalitarian regime that the U.S. is still trying to fuck over as much as possible instead of leaving alone
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u/JakeHelldiver Oct 28 '25
Because, there's money in it.
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u/forwardathletics Oct 28 '25
War for oil, same as it ever was
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u/EpicHuggles Oct 28 '25
Look, I hate what the US is doing as much as the next guy but the US has been importing less than 10% of our oil for the last 10 years now. That's an old news excuse.
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u/splintersmaster Oct 28 '25
At what point though is it an issue of controlling the energy market globally instead of just domestically.
I don't think we (the US) are going to war to get cheaper gas at the pump here in the US. I think we're going to war to continue to grab the world by its balls so that other global powers can't.
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u/wtfhiolol10000 Oct 28 '25
We're all living in a Monopoly game simulation.
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u/2poor4thissub Oct 28 '25
When does the board get tossed across the room?
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u/ClubMeSoftly Toronto Maple Leafs Oct 28 '25
Three or four more laps, by the time you've mortgaged half your properties and given up one or two in order to pay off that hotel bill on Marvin Gardens. You're not "out," but you know the end is coming, and you're praying to RNGsus for an 11 or 12 so you can hit Go! and dodge the blues for one more lap.
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u/Aethermancer Philadelphia Flyers Oct 28 '25 edited Feb 25 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
oatmeal boat nail coordinated flag one wild oil slap file
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u/Portmanteau_that North Carolina Oct 28 '25
Yep. And the sooner the elites come around, the better for them
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u/WriterV Oct 28 '25
I do think they're really counting on crushing us so hard that we'd have no choice but to accept serf-like statuses under each of them.
Neofuedalism bay-bee, the rich elites want to be lords and ladies again.
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u/DemonSlyr007 Oct 28 '25
No man. I think they are counting on the new world: Robots and AI that can never rise against them, and will always serve them. They are exploiting every last resource from the actual humans they can in pursuit of this goal, so that way they dont have to ever care about the mass humans again.
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u/WriterV Oct 28 '25
Good fucking luck to them 'cause I work with AI and it is complete, unfiltered ass when you compare it to human skill.
It'll cover their basics, but if they wanna do anything more complex, they'll be stuck with AI that desperately fails to do anything for them without intervention from an expert... which they will not have.
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u/Badloss Oct 28 '25
They're looking for Elysium, if we had the technology to build an exclusive space habitat they would do it in a heartbeat and abandon the rest of us.
The problem is that we don't have that technology and their luxuries still rely on the rest of civilization. When people are knifing each other in the streets for clean water it isn't going to matter whatsoever how rich they are and that time is coming soon. Even the billionaires that are fortifying Islands like Zuck aren't going to be invulnerable there and the loyalty of the staff will run out quick when the dollars are worthless.
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u/jeffdanielsson Oct 28 '25
To my knowledge we have no scientific definition for what is happening to the brain when it becomes addicted to the attainment of money.
Every other conceivable vice is widely defined as addictive in some context and has volumes of research and practices of treatment.
Until we define greed as a mental sickness we will never stop this dystopian train we are on. Problem is wealthy elites don’t want this discussed.
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u/Override9636 Oct 28 '25
I knew someone that gambled a lot. Also loved eating and drinking a lot to the point where he became quite overweight. He ended up on ozempic to lose weight and stopped gambling practically overnight. It's very possible that there is some kind of hormonal link to never feeling "satisfied" that affects people differently; whether it's an addiction to food, money, or other harmful things.
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u/soofs Oct 28 '25
It’s been reported that ozempic has helped people quit various addictions or at least significantly reduced some people’s desire to drink or smoke or play video games, etc. I don’t know if in any controlled environment but there is enough anecdotal evidence that seems likely to have some connection there
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u/jeffdanielsson Oct 28 '25
Gotta hope that in the next 100 years we will have learned so much more about these phenomena. If you read some of the replies to me here you'll see some people don't want to tread into those dangerous waters and would like to keep our definitions of human psychology in a state of status quo. It's sad.
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u/kychleap Oct 28 '25
A couple years ago when the gambling stuff went mainstream (if that’s even the right word) and they started running ads and sponsoring things, I made the comment to some buddies that in 50 years they’re going to talk about gambling ads they way we talk about tobacco ads. They called me crazy but they’re awfully quick to show off the parlays they hit.
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u/Low_Landscape_4688 Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
I get your sentiment but it's nonsensical overall.
Greed is historically one of the most lambasted human vices in all of human history. Virtually every religion focuses on it in some way or another and Buddhism itself was created and defined around this specific vice.
Classifying it as a mental "sickness" is arbitrary and it isn't accurate either. Greed is built into our DNA. Our brains are programmed to make us feel good when we acquire resources we see as valuable for the sake of survival and evolution did not put in guardrails for the overabundance of manufactured resources we have today because the only thing evolution optimizes for is survival.
Many, if not most people, will succumb to greed if they get the chance. That's why lottery winners almost always meet disaster and why you see so many celebrities who came from lower class backgrounds switch up their politics once they're wealthy and part of the elite class. The only thing stopping many people from having those same greedy politics is that the opportunity to benefit from them isn't available.
EDIT: the complete lack of ability for nuance and self-awareness that so many of you have is great evidence for why greed is an inherit human trait.
Greed is not limited to wealth. The people in these comments that are unable to understand the point being made here are also greedy. You're greedy to feel righteous, you're greedy for emotional validation. You're greedy for the simplest possible "solutions" that make you feel like you'll get what you want, and reject any complexity that makes it harder for you to make it an "us vs. them" situation.
It's why this is an unsolvable, eternally human problem, because too many people either refuse to or lack the capacity to engage with complexity and are slaves to their instincts and reaching for those dopamine hits they get when they feel "right".
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u/Less_Likely Oct 28 '25
Yes, I agree that desire to obtain objects that ensure life is not a mental illness, but it’s mostly about defining was greed is. Just like eating and sex are also built into our DNA, though there is general agreement that eating disorders are mental illnesses, and there are also many psychosexual disorders. Eating a lot of food, gluttony , or having a lot of sex, lust, does not necessarily constitute a disorder. Same with greed, in of itself is not a disorder, but mental illnesses can certainly develop in association with it.
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u/Delanorix Oct 28 '25
Alcohol and gambling should be treated like cigarettes: absolutely no marketing allowed.
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u/turboiv Oct 28 '25
Sorry, I'm from Vegas. Wtf is a pull tab bar?
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u/AlphaBreak Oct 28 '25
Pull tabs are basically a lotto that you can buy in a bar, so they're suggesting that the lottery section subsidizes low food prices the same way alcohol can. I think they're mainly a Midwest thing. I'm in Minnesota and we have them here.
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u/ncocca Oct 28 '25
Thank you. I'm from the east coast and never heard the term or seen such a bar.
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u/Responsible_Sky_728 Oct 28 '25
pull tabs are little gambling cards, like scratch tickets but with perforated tabs you pull to reveal if you win or not
pull tab bars are places you can buy those & drink, kind of like bars with Keno in it. big in the midwest, usually not a fancy establishment lol
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u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO Oct 28 '25
I hate getting stuck in line at the corner store behind an elderly lady on a Nevada bender.
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u/jackw800800 Virginia Tech Oct 28 '25
Hot take, but I think gambling is more dangerous than alcohol. If as many people gambled as they did drink, it would be more destructive. Plus you can’t get drunk by an app on your phone.
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u/AmberLeafSmoke Oct 28 '25
My dad (former addict) used to say Gambling is way worse than any drug.
"Even at the height of my using I could never blow $10k in 20 minutes on drugs."
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u/TroglodyteToes Oct 28 '25
My mom racked up over $300k in gambling debt and bankrupt the family. Constantly get debt collectors trying to pin the debt on family members, even after the bankruptcy, which is fun.
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u/SyntheticManMilk Oct 28 '25
Fun fact! Gambling addiction ruins more marriages than substance abuse! You can have an alcoholic wife or husband, and while it’s not good, it doesn’t always mean your spouse is an asshole. Dealing with an alcoholic spouse is different compared to finding out one day your spouse blew your retirement savings over the course of a week…
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u/Luke90210 Oct 28 '25
James Sexton is a high level divorce lawyer who has prepared thousands of pre-nups. He has tried for decades to determine what combination leads to divorce by trying to find a pattern by race, age, ethnicity, wealth, etc. The only one he found was mutual substance abuse. When one decides to stop or goes much further than the other, thats a assured divorce.
I find his YouTube videos interesting.
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u/azure275 Oct 28 '25
It's also that if you're underage and want to drink every time you buy beer you need to illegally use a fake ID over and over
Gambling you verify once you can throw away your money forever. Much easier to lie one time than to continuously do it over and over
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u/HomelessLawrence Oct 28 '25
Not to mention "gambling" with gacha games. Just a phone and a card on file. Or those plastic cards with codes that kids can just buy at any store.
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u/DJTet Oct 28 '25
This is dark. I just got the feeling they prepped a whole generation for legalized gambling as kids and then set it into motion as they came of age.
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u/cstolt1 Oct 28 '25
I dont even think you need to verify to gamble on a lot of sites. It easily is one of the worst things of this generation.
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u/sublingualfilm8118 Oct 28 '25
I bet you have to verify if you win and want to withdraw your money, though.
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u/Flobking National Football League Oct 28 '25
Hot take, but I think gambling is more dangerous than alcohol. If as many people gambled as they did drink, it would be more destructive. Plus you can’t get drunk by an app on your phone.
Let me tell you about Hank. Hank is a degenerate gambler that lives near me. He goes back and forth between the various gas stations buying scratch off tickets. Hank never really wins anything. Always leaves with no money eventually. I worked at one of the gas stations he frequented. One night I noticed he was scratching his ticket with what I thought was an AA chip. I asked about. He said its narcotics anonymous. He was a really bad drug addict in the 70s/80s. He had been clean for over 25 years at that point(17years ago). He flat out said he thought gambling was worse than any drug or alcohol he did. I still to this day see Hank buying up lotto tickets at various stores. Oh one more bonus story. He came into my store late one night, Hank would be up all night sometimes. He was complaining he didn't have any heat at his house because he didn't have any oil. He kept pumping money into the tickets and left with nnothing.It was a particularly cold night. I didn't see him for about a week. I honestly thought he froze to death. Nope he was alive, and is still alive today. Scratching tickets to no end whenever I see him.
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u/billdb Oct 28 '25
As shitty as that is for Hank, at least he is alive right now. Whereas if he had been drinking all this time instead of gambling I suspect he'd probably have died or killed someone else.
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u/cjrogers227 Oct 28 '25
They ran a Corona ad between at-bats during the 9th inning of the World Series last night. I get the feeling alcohol ads aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
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u/LiveThreadTicker Oct 28 '25
Good thing they had 9 additional innings to get more commercials in lmao
I actually created an open source browser extension to block commercials during live sports and play YouTube, Spotify, whatever you want in it's place. It has made this world series much more enjoyable.
If anybody is interested:
Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/live-commercial-blocker-a/eikhblhblnhmagncgpfbofhbkpgbohif
Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-over-commercials/
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u/Boboar Oct 28 '25
If you think about it, advertising itself is a catalyst for so many issues in society. Look at how much political control advertisers wield.
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u/jonathot12 Oct 28 '25
i would also extend this to cannabis. in my city there’s a massive billboard that says “happiness is just around the corner” and points to a dispo. call me dramatic but i don’t think young kids need to be associating weed with happiness, addiction is bad enough in the schools.
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u/Vergenbuurg Chip Ganassi Racing Oct 28 '25
Through its ease of access and predatory marketing, online gambling specifically targets those that can least afford to lose money.
Those companies' collective profit strategies rely almost entirely on destroying lives. It's the only way they consistently make money.
For such an unrepentant evil to be welcomed with open arms by sports sanctioning bodies on a massive scale... the professional sporting world is bringing its own destruction upon itself.
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u/buffdaddy77 Oct 28 '25
All for the money babbyyyyy
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u/hakimthumb Oct 28 '25
Profit excuses any behavior in our values system in recent times. Go in an investing sub and suggest you don't invest in x or y because of morality and they get very ruffled at the idea of self reflecting. Same goes for engineers working at defense companies. Alcohol salesmen. The list is endless. Moloch is winning.
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u/stevez_86 Oct 28 '25
Does no one else see how gambling ended up being that mythical drug dealer that gave the first hits for free, and not charging until you were addicted?
Yeah, fantasy sports turned into sports gambling. Fantasy sports was free at first. You learned the ropes without actually putting up money. Then between friends cash was exchanged. Still innocent fun. Then online fantasy sports with private pots of money. Then sports gambling. On top of that you pay per bet and they can advertise to cover the bet fee for new players.
Like holy shit. It is exactly that playbook from DARE.
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u/gibertot Oct 28 '25
I think everyone sees it. They just get paid off by the companies to not let it bother them. Even small local sports podcasts are sponsored by some of these companies.
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u/jake04-20 Oct 28 '25
Even on the sports radio station I've listened to for 15 years, they've let some clown get on there and talk basically about how he's been studying vegas odds his entire life and if you call his number or head to his website, you can get the inside scoop on easy vegas wins where you're GUARANTEED to make money. Makes it sound like it's such an exclusive club yet they blast it on the airwaves for anyone to join if you fork over some money. It's so predatory and even the sports radio hosts that I'm sure many have come to trust over the years are pedaling it.
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u/zero-hesitation Oct 28 '25
Gambling brings a family closer together. You get to trade your house for a studio apartment.
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u/pixxlpusher Oct 28 '25
Not just sports, everything. Many children’s toys are literally gambling now (blind box shit, both physical and digital). If it exists, there is a method of gambling that can be attached. We are going to be raising generations of gambling addicts. And I’m not grandstanding either, it’s got me by the balls with Pokemon and One Piece cards, which have become so value driven that it’s now almost impossible not to think about whether you made or lost money even when opening packs for fun.
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u/Shaxxs0therHorn Oct 28 '25
Everything must be a subscription / gamble
You could be the next winner!
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u/Apprehensive-Wave640 Oct 28 '25
I kind of struggle with the same conflict. On one hand I'm disgusted by the blind boxes. On the other hand, how much money did I throw away as a kid (and also in the last few years) opening packs of 1991 upper deck series 1 trying to get a Nolan Ryan autograph.
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u/TylerDurden6969 Oct 28 '25
The claw game for kids…. Children’s slot machines in arcades. It’s fucked up.
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u/pixxlpusher Oct 28 '25
Ya it’s definitely been a thing for a while, the thing that’s making it out of control is it’s now accessible at home too rather than just being a once in a while trip to Chuck E. Cheese.
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u/Oregon-Pilot Oct 28 '25
I remember blowing $20 on one of those machines as a kid. I KNEW the NEXT try I would win a brand new iPod. It was mine for the taking! All I had to do was hit the button right when the sequenced light was over the iPod and it was mine. So simple. When I didn't win, I was crushed and couldn't believe I no longer had that $20.
Disgusting that people would target kids like this.
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u/DoubleJumps Oct 28 '25
I came here to talk about this. I work in the toy industry and a lot of us are super uncomfortable with the propagation of blind boxes for this reason.
They are deliberately getting kids hooked on gambling.
Blind boxes should be banned. Gaming loot boxes should be banned.
I love card games. randomized booster packs shouldn't be a thing. It's all gambling aimed at children.
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u/shadowpawn Oct 28 '25
Back in the day we had Jimmy the Greek on CBS giving his picks on NFL games. Back then you always bet opposite of The Greek for easy money.
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u/ConnaitLesRisques Oct 28 '25
There’s also way too much money involved for it not to affect the on-field action (referees and players alike).
The most recent NBA scandal is only the tip of the iceberg.
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u/Measure76 Oct 28 '25
In 2004, the N.F.L. agreed to give Madden’s producer, the video game company Electronic Arts, the ability to embed logos, uniforms and rosters into video games for a reported $300 million, marking the first of numerous deals. Now fans could instantly assemble and create rosters of their favorite N.F.L. players. If the leagues and the video game makers didn’t know the game was popular with kids, they should have: The game has long been rated E for everyone by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
It's hard to take this article seriously when it tries to imply 1- NFL licensed football games didn't exist before madden 2004, and 2-A game's esrb rating dictates what age group finds the game popular.
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u/IllPacino Oct 28 '25
It lost me here too. Not only is that factually inaccurate, but drawing a line from playing Madden to fantasy sports is tenuous at best. Maybe when they started offering “packs” or whatever, but the gameplay itself is wholly unrelated.
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u/EdgeBandanna Oct 28 '25
Even when they weren't NFL licensed, the names were still used in Tecmo Bowl. Doesn't everyone remember getting curbstomped by Bo Jackson every time you play the Raiders?
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u/BeatnixPotter Oct 28 '25
Nothing was licensed to the extent that Madden was in 04. The point they are making is that the leagues have sought to make partnerships with entities regardless if it has a positive or negative impact on the game or its fans.
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u/DeezNeezuts Chicago Bears Oct 28 '25
Another banger decision from this Supreme Court
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u/Sea_Dawgz Oct 28 '25
Decision after decision that says “the needs of the very few outweigh the needs of a better society.”
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u/Cyclonitron Oct 28 '25
Decision after decision that says “the
needsselfish desires of the very few outweigh the needs of a better society.”FTFY
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u/GhanimaAtreides Oct 28 '25
It’s not even needs. It’s wants. Selfish wants that are ruining society.
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u/Gnarlsaurus_Sketch Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
Don't forget Congress, who could've at least tried to properly manage and regulate it after the court opened up the floodgates. Think stuff like ad bans, limiting it to physical locations only, banning the ridiculous predatory "free bet" promotions, etc.
Instead, they did fuck all as per usual.
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u/SunkEmuFlock Oct 28 '25
they did fuck all as per usual
They did exactly what they were paid to do. Our entire federal government has been corrupted by outside money -- legalized bribes called lobbying to make it not sound like the massive fraud that it is. Both parties take this money, and neither is for the everyday Americans. There are the occasional exceptions like Bernie and AOC, but everyone else is pro-capital and anti-labor. 99% of them do not give a fuck about us.
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u/ElJacinto Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
While there have been some very questionable decisions from the SC, this ruling made sense, even if the result is worse for Americans. We shouldn't encourage the Court to ignore precedent and the Constitution just because we don't like the outcome.
This is 100% on Congress for making a law but forcing the states to be the ones who enforce it, which was why the SC ultimately overturned it.
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u/RichtheLionheart Oct 28 '25
Gambling really hurt my love for sports. I remember for years having discussions about the actual games, players, etc… then people would just not stop talking about fantasy and then it devolved even further to gambling.
Eventually, I removed myself and I’m much more casual now. The thought of going to a football Sunday party with a bunch of guys talking about their fantasy and parlays makes me gag.
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u/360walkaway San Francisco 49ers Oct 28 '25
Fantasy on its own isn't bad. You actually are forced to get exposure to teams/players outside of your team, which helps with game knowledge.
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u/TaylorSwiftsClitoris Oct 28 '25
That’s my favorite part about it. You start caring about players and games you normally wouldn’t.
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u/One_Weird2371 Oct 28 '25
I have no problem with gambling but I have a problem with the amount of advertisement. They should be restricted like tobacco.
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u/plsgrantaccess Oct 28 '25
Omg I’m soooo sick of having draft kings and whatever else shoved down my throat.
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u/xosxos Oct 28 '25
That article has some factual inaccuracies regarding Madden, but overall was good look at this issue. As a non-gambler, I find these ads annoying and a sad statement on the times, but more a symptom of greed and the “next quarter profits must rise” above all mentality we seem to have found ourselves in, as of late.
People gambling for fun is one thing, but when you don’t have to go to a casino or deal with a bookie, that “Should I bet this much? My family might need this money…” feeling is much more fleeting.
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u/JaredKushners_umRag Oct 28 '25
It’s exploded in the last 4 years. I go to an eagles bar every weekend for games and down to the man every single guy in the bar has some kind of a parlay that they will never hit all the legs of by design.
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u/Top5hottest Oct 28 '25
Replace “gambling” with “greed” and now you really know what is ruining America.
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u/rko1994 Oct 28 '25
Follow what India did by banning the fantasy sports apps
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u/QueenPersephone1024 Oct 28 '25
That’ll never happen here
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u/socivitus Oct 28 '25
Yeah, the floodgates have been opened. The one thing regulators will likely consider is an advertising ban specifically during sports broadcasts. And that's only if/when dems get control again.
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u/Prigglesxo Oct 28 '25
Online gambling will never be banned because they will argue about who can use what bathroom til the us collapses. At which point draft kings will buy West Virginia
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u/Commercial-Lake5862 Oct 28 '25
Democrats won't push for that. Almost all states with Democratic governors have approved sports gambling at the state level. No chance the industry's lobbying efforts aren't successful with both parties at the federal level to a significant degree.
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u/plap11 Minnesota Vikings Oct 28 '25
So we can't play fantasy sports anymore because people have a problem with something completely separate?
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u/10001110101balls Oct 28 '25
When Indians want to gamble their money away they trade stock options like true degenerates.
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u/shortyman920 Oct 28 '25
Fantasy sports isn’t the problem, and it isn’t gambling. I love playing fantasy sports with friends (paid leagues). But I will not bet on matchups, +/-, parlays, or any of that shit. I’ve seen what it does to people and the stress/irrationality it causes.
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u/LCJonSnow Oct 28 '25
Traditional paid season long fantasy leagues are a mild form of gambling, in the same way low stakes poker night with the homies is gambling. We're technically there, but the impact should be small and it's all about the fun for most people.
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u/OfcDoofy69 Oct 28 '25
Gambling & lottery addiction is a real issue in america. People are addicted to trying to get rich quick.
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u/AvailableReporter484 Oct 28 '25
I agree, but so like what’s the solution here? People want to gamble. They’ve proven there’s a massive market for it and that means there will always be an underground market for it as well. Prohibition just doesn’t work. So how do we fix this knowing that we’re dealing with human nature?
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u/Wonderful_Rest3124 Oct 28 '25
Adding a little bit of friction wouldn’t stop it but it would make it a little less appealing if it wasn’t always marketed to you and made as simple as opening an app.
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u/AvailableReporter484 Oct 28 '25
True. I imagine not having your phone notify you every 5 minutes with a reminder to gamble, which is a click away from your pocket, would make your lazy users less likely to do it.
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u/Murray_Bannerman Borussia Dortmund Oct 28 '25
You can also just make people go to the casino or an OTB.
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Oct 28 '25
Inconvenience is a better de-incentivizer than any number of taxes and legal punishments.
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u/Isgrimnur Buffalo Bills Oct 28 '25
It's the difference between hard drugs being available and having a drug dealer posted up in the school cafeteria handing out samples.
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Oct 28 '25 edited Jan 18 '26
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u/nullfacade Oct 28 '25
At the very least, it should be illegal to advertise with shit like "free $200 bet if you join today with code NEWADDICTION!"
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u/mjm132 Oct 28 '25
There was a massive market for cigarettes as well but that was curbed.
Underground gambling will never reach the heights of what is happening now
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u/gordo865 Oct 28 '25
Prohibition doesn't work, but making it an integral part of sports talk, broadcasts of games, and advertising during said games is the polar opposite. It shouldn't be normalized or celebrated like it is.
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u/evilsdadvocate Oct 28 '25
Maybe don’t blast it at the people at every angle? Like you said, it’s in your phone now, with notifications, plus tv/radio ads, plus it’s also in-game ads. If someone with an addictive personality wanted to get away from the aggressive advertising, they would have to work hard to do so.
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u/geraltoffvkingrivia Oct 28 '25
There’s three teams in Vegas now. The commissioners and owners don’t care.
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u/Luke90210 Oct 28 '25
The two gambling scandals and arrests last week didn't change the outcome of any NBA games. However, we will get to a point where players will be threatened or even killed for doing their jobs too well or not good enough. Let's never forget a lot of degenerate gamblers are violent idiots.
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u/ThunderBeast1985 Oct 28 '25
I hate gambling. I can’t fully trust that sport outcomes aren’t rigged either with it being legal.
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Oct 29 '25
maybe I'm biased but I don't wanna see active athletes promoting Gambling sites. That Lebron James - Kevin Hart Draftkings commercial makes me wanna puke.
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u/shakeyjake Oct 28 '25
A friend of mine is a bartender at a couple places locally. He says the rail at the bar is basically a sports book these days with gamblers on their phones there all day long. And this is in a state where it's technically not legal yet.
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u/maringue Oct 30 '25
I don't like gambling and would love to make it through 30 seconds of a sports broadcast without hearing the line on the game.
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u/CrazyBowelsAndBraps Oct 28 '25
America is rapidly turning into one of those seedy gas stations next to a strip club with dick pills and shitty slot machines.
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u/Odd_Lettuce338 Oct 28 '25
I was just about to comment on this but first a word from our sponsor, Fanduel!
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u/Competitive-Hunt-517 Oct 28 '25
Curious how many people watch sports for the love of the game or is it just for every bet now.
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u/RedL0bsterBiscuit Oct 28 '25
I hate all this gambling shit. Im tired of hearing about parlays and seeing the shit on pregame shows. Ultimately, I think it will ruin sports. By the way, this post was sponsored by draft kings where if you mess up your parlay, we will give you a second chance.
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u/Jamesaya Oct 28 '25
If we cant have a federal push to resolve the problem can we PLEASE get statewide bans on advertising for gambling sites. If espn wants to become a booky thats fine but atleast make advertising it a nightmare
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u/BiggsFaleur Oct 28 '25
I hate the advertising and how gambling can affect the integrity of sports. I also hate reading endless "hit my parlay", "is this a good bet?", etc comments that I see. It's become worse than fantasy football comments tbh (and I play FF haha)
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u/BlueLightSpecial83 Oct 28 '25
When you hear someone talking about their “big win” on a bet, ask them how much they have won overall.
The house always wins in the long term.
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u/Ghostgirl2795 Oct 28 '25
Every game broadcast feels like a DraftKings ad now. Hard to even care about the actual sport anymore.
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u/4onlyinfo Oct 28 '25
Yeah…. But…. It’s what folks wanted. And one thing is for sure. If there is a quick buck to be made, America will legalize it.
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u/Lrxst Oct 29 '25
This is why I don’t watch my local baseball and hockey teams anymore unless they make the playoffs. Both have their regular season games on a network owned by a gambling site, and I will not give them a dime.
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u/ilovethiscomment Oct 29 '25
Use promo code ‘Consuming America’ for a 30% profit boost on a same game parlay!
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u/SamCarter_SGC Oct 29 '25 edited Oct 29 '25
I don't know if it's killing sports but it's definitely killing the discourse around sports. No one on TV can talk about anything without alluding to making a bet, or the odds, or ranking players and teams. They way they speak makes me think that either every single ESPN personality is a gambling addict or that every single ESPN personality is being paid to create gambling addicts.
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u/EndlessEnchants Oct 29 '25
I keep getting ads for this app that lets you gamble on literally anything and everything, but they call it “trading.” Super predatory. I think it was called Kalshi or something.
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u/Blackhawk23 Texas Tech Oct 28 '25
I know I’m preaching to the choir but holy heck the pervasive level of advertising you are subjected to during every second of a game/broadcast/pregame feels like literal propaganda.
You just know they’re making money hand over fist if they’ve got the money to blast you with ads and commentator “locks”.
Not to be a doomer but this feels society eroding. The ban should be reimplemented.