In a recent Opinion piece entitled “Legalize sports betting,” my fellow columnist Jared Fogel advocates for the legalization of sports betting. (That may seem like a shocker, but trust me, it’s true.) But sports betting is wrong and immoral. Gambling on such events creates a moral hazard for those involved and even the spectators.
Legal betting would ruin the appeal of sports because sports are about mentally investing in a team and riding the emotional roller coaster of a blowout win, a great comeback or even a loss. The ability for anyone to place bets on any team would destroy this entire aspect of the game because it would create a disconnect between fans and teams. The subjectivity inherent in being a fan of a particular team would be reduced and replaced with the cold hard objectivity of gambling.
The legalization of sports gambling would lead to a reduced interest in sports by those who do not bet, much like fantasy football has turned off traditional fans from being a part of the fandom of people who root for teams but instead root for players on their team. The attention of games would shift from simple wins and losses to spreads and margins of victory. Introducing money into the equation removes personal engagement and bonding with the team and other fans.
Fogel justifies his idea with the claim that the legalization of betting would reduce gambling-induced corruption in professional sports. The opening up of the market would drastically increase the volume of betting. Suddenly, people who previously did not bet because of the legal ramifications would be drawn to it. The addictive potential of betting would get people hooked on it and the market would drastically grow. Where there is a large amount of money and a high potential for corruption there will be corruption. Fogel says this potential for match fixing would be overcome by regulatory agencies. However, with a much larger market it would be much easier to hide relatively large transactions. Furthermore, Fogel claims legalization should occur because of the high volume of corruption already inherent in sports. Attempting to cover up a small crack by making a bigger one is illogical. Corruption could be fixed now by monitoring and cracking down on Internet sports betting without legalizing it.
Rather than further increasing the ability of the average citizen to get caught up in such a destructive habit, we should close the loopholes that allow legal gambling to occur in Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware. Gambling and lotteries already cause enough damage amongst the population; legalizing sports gambling would further add fuel to that fire. The National Opinion Research Center calculated that pathological and problem gambling addictions cost $5 billion a year. This number does not weigh in the damage done to family life through bankruptcy and divorce.
Another prediction Fogel makes is that by legalizing and taxing sports betting the federal government could increase revenue. This benefit is, however, outweighed by the harm it causes in the form of addiction, crime and corruption. In fact, the U.S. Gambling Commission recommended completely shutting down legal sports betting on collegiate and amateur level sports.
Gambling as an addiction is similar to an addiction to drugs, and sports betting in particular has been called the “gateway drug” to gambling addiction. Any form of legal sports betting is bad for the sports-watching population because it opens them up to addiction to other, more dangerous, corrupt and criminally-controlled forms of illegal betting. It is immoral to justify trading off hazards such as these in exchange for simple tax revenue, some of which will be offset by increased social welfare and treatment costs.
Legalizing sports gambling because a few states have expressed interest or passed a referendum may seem like a logical step, but in reality the costs of gambling are too high — materially and in cost to the spirit of the game — to justify legalizing it.
Sawan Patel is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at s.patel@cavalierdaily.com.
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