This is a huge sea change in the landscape of American sports. This change is largely driven by the rapid spread of sports gambling legalization across the country. Both online and retail sports betting are currently legal in 38 states. This is a complete turnaround from the federal regulation up until 2018, when the Supreme Court’s groundbreaking ruling gave states the authority to legalize sports betting if they wanted to. This ruling has proven to be profoundly impactful. There’s no doubt that it has revolutionized the economics of professional sports and changed the way countless fans interact with their favorite pastimes.
Eight years ago, you would have heard a much different tune from David Stern, the former commissioner of the NBA, when asked about legalized sports gambling. He worried that it could compromise the purity of the sports. Nonetheless, his outlook changed dramatically in later years. By 2018, following the Supreme Court’s ruling, Stern advocated for the full legalization of sports gambling, recognizing the inevitability of its integration into American sports culture.
Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena played an important role in this evolution by jumping on the cutting edge wave. In 2021, it became the first professional sports arena in United States history to open a fully functioning sportsbook. This groundbreaking new feature allows fans to make bets on games while they are happening in real-time. This new feature has set a precedent for other arenas across the nation, with more than a dozen sportsbooks now open to fans during live play.
The increasing cultural acceptance of gambling has opened the door for more blatant activity from fans and players to be sure. NBA superstar LeBron James told a hilarious anecdote recently. A sports betting fan heckled him to get one more rebound in a game to hit their parlay bet. This incident is a perfect representation of how deeply gambling has invaded the fan experience in ways we never even pictured before.
Yet, this new era of sports and gambling coming together hasn’t been without controversy and backlash. There have been numerous sanctions against athletes and coaches after the 2018 ruling for going against gambling policies. As of this week, the NFL has suspended twelve players for gambling-related misconduct. Of those, three players were suspended for wagering on their own teams. This year, Major League Baseball (MLB) sent a hardline message against rule violations. They permanently banned Tucupita Marcano for betting violations and a full year on four other players.
In 2023, the NFL acted on these concerns by updating its gambling policies. They doubled down, instituting even stiffer penalties on players found to have wagered on their own teams. This move highlights the league’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of the game while navigating the complexities of legalized sports betting.
The dangers of gambling go past the pitch and into the personal lives of players. The Shohei Ohtani experience Just ask Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who became the collateral damage of this disturbing trend. In doing so, Mizuhara allegedly embezzled more than $16 million from Ohtani to cover his own gambling debts. This unfortunate occurrence begs some hard questions about the patronage and resultant impact of gambling addiction within professional sports.
Gambling advertising is quickly becoming inextricably tied with America’s big three sports. This major paradigm shift presents serious ethical considerations when it comes to enforcing these partnerships. David Stern once lamented, “The one thing I’m certain of is New Jersey has no idea what it’s doing and doesn’t care at all because all it’s interested in is making a buck or two, and they don’t care that it’s at our potential loss.” His observations ring true today as American sports stakeholders continue to weigh their desire for profitability with the risks of moral hazards.
Yet the excitement around sports betting has created a climate in which fans might reportedly feel more encouraged to bet on their teams publicly. From television to public transportation, advertisements for online sportsbooks blanket the scene. Whether on broadcasts or in-stadium experiences, it only further cements the normalization of such a practice into American culture.
