Why sports betting is terrible and how it ruins purity of sportsmanship

[Under_Maps_OF_twigs]

Our sports are often betted on with lines and money that favors the favorite or underdog depending on what they want to happen. It is often set up to feed into the greedy money culture.

Betting

Many times when people place a bet on teams, they often are doing dirty things that should not be involved. By eliminating betting, you are putting a bigger emphasis on winning the right way with sportsmanship and purity. Often when a line is -5.5, the betters take the underdogs because they place the bet where the house will likely get the greatest share of the money and people lose when they bet. Betting on games makes you a loser in my book and this should never have been passed.

Legalized

Some states legalized betting because the outcry was that it was done with good intentions and all fair and lovely but the truth is that many times that there are things happening behind the scenes and under the table maneuvers that tries to cheat the system and people get penalized in many sections unknowingly as the bettors will not share this inside secret to them.

Sportsmanship

The reason so many people are no shown the winning ways in sports and how to be leaders is because they have galvanized to viewing leagues set teams in papers as favorites and underdogs and this should never be the situation. Showing how to win and thinking you are the better team because Vegas arbitrarily says so means nothing. When you put in the work ethic, you become winners. I rather have a team who finishes 29-6 doing it the right way by giving it their all and not paying attention to distractions than a team who goes 35-0 but used players that really violated rules and spent time wagering on games.

This was on my mind. Please tell me how you feel about sports betting and how I can improve this MyTake.

[0112358]

A) Betting lines are about balancing books, not what experts think the line should be if all bettors were rational. There's an element of that, but its ultimately more driven by balancing books. Bookies are brokers, not dealers, if they have a choice.

B) High betting does indeed raise concerns about manipulation of results, but i'll note that so do things like tv ratings etc. It's generally illegal for players to bet on the games, even if betting on themselves.

[Secretgardenblood]

Good take.

[madhatters4]

"Some states legalized betting because the outcry was that it was done with good intentions"

the reason sports betting is legal is because states want the money. they were tired of seeing people flock to vegas OR even worse use offshore betting sites or illegal bookies. they can generate hundreds of millions from taxing sports books, and avoid the black market book makers and websites

[WhiteSteve]

I’m just bored by it, honestly. A) I don’t like gambling, conceptually. The thrill of winning money I didn’t have is FAR outweighed by the anguish of losing money I already DID have.

My thing has always just been: I watch sports because I enjoy watching sports. If you need to gamble to “make it interesting”, you just might not be that big of a sports fan, and that’s ok.

[WhiteSteve]

There was supposed to be a “B)” in there for the second paragraph haha

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

sports betting is so much fun, though! i don't bet money, but i play pick'em football every year for nfl and college. you learn so much (about the sport, players and math). it's no different than if you fill out a march madness bracket.

[WhiteSteve]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau yeah, I mean, that stuff is all well and fine, pick em, super bowl squares, NCAA brackets, etc. I’m thinking more about traditional gambling with bookies and whatnot, haha. “Hey Biff, I want to lay down ten dimes on Occidental over North-Central Eastern West Virginia College Of Pharmacy, to cover, and I’ll take the over.”😂

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

Don’t sleep on occidental! I mean, I don’t really see much of the downside except someone being paid off, which I can only see in college basketball/football. I would say the nba, but 2002 got them shook. Also, I don’t think 95% of America even knows how gambling works or money lines are set

[WhiteSteve]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau Occidental will catch you slippin’ and bust your bracket for sure lmao. So yeah, no beef with traditional gambling, it’s not for me for the aforementioned thrill/anguish ratio, and I don’t really sweat Tim Donaghy situations. I guess it’s just the guys who have to bet all these games or they’re bored that make me wonder what they’re in it for, or if they were fans of the sport but have an addiction that’s out of control. Shit like fantasy football, whatever, knock yourself out, I’ve played in the past, doesn’t blow my skirt up, but a lot of people enjoy it. One thing about me: I love sports, but I HATE stats. I actually was good at fantasy football but it was all eye-test. I knew guys who would study for weeks for a draft. I just knew good players, and I’d factor in things about their team: do they have a generally good offense or is it a one or two man show? Is their defense good, resulting in more possessions? Is their division weak, with 4-6 potential lay-up games per year? Then week-to-week starting decisions based on matchups and likely schemes against my players. Never finished lower than third. Stats can be misleading. But I was still reliant on stats week-to-week to win, and that just sapped some enjoyment from how I watched games. At the end of the day, I just want to see everyone line up and play, and watch the beautiful game that is football. No cream or sugar, straight black. So I guess I just wonder what people who don’t watch sports like me but do watch because of gambling or fantasy are really in it for. I certainly believe someone can be a true fan of the game and be gamblers or fantasy players, it’s not mutually exclusive. I’m just being a Judgey Judgerson, lmao, so everybody just continue to do you, I’m getting curmudgeonly in my advanced age, haha

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

yeah. i treat it as a hobby. i like watching the spreads and picking games. i hate fantasy, too. i can't get into it. as someone who has his own playbook (yes, i made my own football playbook on offense and defense), i like watching the game strategically rather than looking up stats. i also can't bet for money cause i'm a broke-ass punk :D

[WhiteSteve]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau Lmao, RESPECT, I drew up a bunch of my own plays too on slow nights when I was a bouncer, because at the time I thought football wouldn’t be banned for life for kids haha, but yeah, used a whole bunch of free office supplies😂 Nothing wicked innovative or anything, but playbooks to call my own if I could get a coaching job somewhere. Now my state is looking to ban football up until high school altogether, so I don’t know what that means for my potential coaching career, insert sad trombone noise [here], haha. Better to watch that gambling shit from the sidelines anyway, I know a lot more people who break than people who roll💸💸💸

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

one day i'll be an nfl coach... even if i blew that chance like 7 times already :D. coming up with offense is way easier than defense, though... you actually have to be smart to come up with defense schemes :P. i do wish i put down money on the tournament, though. i have 3 teams i picked in the tournament still in. the line was like 200/1... that alone could've funded my 2 month Europe trip straight up :|

[Under_Maps_OF_twigs]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau
Only 7928 of 17.2 million brackets entered on ESPN got all 4 final four teams right.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

cool. the only 1 i didn't get right was the south region because my team got dicked by the refs in a span of 2.7 seconds against purdue...

[Under_Maps_OF_twigs]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau
Even if Tennessee had beaten Purdue, it is no guarantee they would have beaten Virginia.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

tennessee matches up a lot better against virginia than they do purdue. purdue is a hard matchup because they can score. it was harder offensively because tennessee plays a lot of 3/4-full court press, which wears you out on offense and more prone to foul trouble (ie, half our starters fouled out by ot). virginia has good guards, too, but they can't score for shit, play slow, and play stylistically similar to tennessee. so we wouldn't have to spend as much effort on defense, which would help us since our big men are relatively undersized in terms of our best lineup. i like kyle alexander at center, but he's not going to beat you on offense, and our offensive center (fulkerson) can't play defense. that puts pressure on our too forwards, who are elite college defenders (and all-american players)... also, my sister went to uva and winning against them would've been fucking amazing.

[Under_Maps_OF_twigs]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau
But losing to them would mean you'd here it from her.

The state has a good team: Predators, average team: Titans and bad teams: Grizzlies and Vanderbilt, except their baseball.

[Under_Maps_OF_twigs]

I meant hear it.

[Under_Maps_OF_twigs]

None of this matters because Michigan State will win it all to show Michigan how it in done and mock them losing the title game last year.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

good thing you didn't put odds down on the final 4... talk about cold hard take :D

[Phanta]

I don't know much about sports betting. But what I do know that all forms of gambling are sinful. Gambling in all its forms is addictive and is a form of covetousness. I would simply add these facts.

[John_Doesnt]

Sports would be boring for me without betting and alochol.

[Under_Maps_OF_twigs]

Who do you think will win the National Championship in basketball: Virginia, Michigan State, Texas Tech or Auburn?

[NerdInDenial]

I think it’s a great business model and it will never die because greed is intuitive.

[Evil_Chuck]

I have never bet on sports and never will. I watch for the entertainment of the game itself, and what little I do have, I can't afford to gamble with.

[jacquesvol]

The name of the ugly Beast is greed and $

[Under_Maps_OF_twigs]

WOW. This is only the 2nd time you replied to my question seriously.

Yes, greed is a big evil in this world.

[CT_CD]

I agree