Has the surge in sports betting legalization and advertising change how you view sports?

[Royalfan5 2354]

For me I keep finding it an increasing turnoff. (I had a front row seat for an Uncles horrendous gambling problem, and I’ve never placed sports bets because of that and almost no other gambling) I’ve always been a big sports in general guy, but with gambling stuff seeping into all levels of the coverage and I hear my coworkers keep talking about their increasing bets,(and none them bet two years ago at all) it just makes me feel like something bad is going to evolve out of the spread. 

[UpperWestside 6169]

19 hours ago, Royalfan5 said:

For me I keep finding it an increasing turnoff. (I had a front row seat for an Uncles horrendous gambling problem, and I’ve never placed sports bets because of that and almost no other gambling) I’ve always been a big sports in general guy, but with gambling stuff seeping into all levels of the coverage and I hear my coworkers keep talking about their increasing bets,(and none them bet two years ago at all) it just makes me feel like something bad is going to evolve out of the spread. 

Pretty much most of the dialogue now at work about sports has to do with gambling. I place some small bets, but I don’t talk about them. Overall I would say that for myself I now have even less interest in pro and college sports than I did before, which was already little to none.

[Neonmoon 38129]

No. 

[ConferenceRoom 6141]

Not even a little bit. 

[RDCanecutter 26446]

I imagine that somewhere there are more guys with 5 pounds of gel in their hair yelling at giant screens, but personally, no change for me.

[troph 24810]

I haven’t bet on a sporting event since I bet with a bookie that I waited tables with when I was 18. 

[Updawg 2266]

I rarely bet and do find it annoying. Hasn’t changed my viewing but is annoying. Sports radio is especially bad

[7KHorn 2629]

19 minutes ago, Updawg said:

I rarely bet and do find it annoying. Hasn’t changed my viewing but is annoying. Sports radio is especially bad

Este - ESPN radio now dedicates a bunch of airtime to random sports betting.  It's about as interesting as hearing some blowhard discuss their FFL lineup.  Admittedly, SVP bad beats can be amusing to watch.

[Js1 85353]

Not even a little. I find the complete lack of accountability in officiating to be a far bigger turnoff. 

[Underdog 28690]

I'll do the bracket challenge, squares for football but that's the extent of my sports gambling.  Hasn't affected my viewership. 

[StassneyHorn 6583]

It’s made people more incredibly annoying. During the Super Bowl some dickhead next to me kept going about his bet he had and the guy just did understand that’s how you guarantee you lose and just doesn’t understand etiquette. So of course he lost.

[deadshank 24653]

Betting doesn’t bother me at all.   
 

Fantasy league honks are annoying  

Incessant over analysis before big games and shock jock sports media personalities that Monday morning QB are the biggest turn off to me  

 

 

[SimonBolivar 10958]

I enjoy knowing that morons are out there losing money thinking that they know more about sports than the Vegas sharps and the juice combined.

[Guest]

No.  The corruption of college football has.  Outright recruiting at the high school level has.

Pro sports is pro sports.  DraftKings is DraftKings.

Is OP Baptist and working on a way to protect me from gambling?😁

[DaggerHorns 3085]

I love gambling.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Not really. Kinda funny when some worthless lay up at the end of a 110-97 game came be the difference between the O/U. So I don’t bet on sports. Especially college, can’t let some no name dork make a stupid mistake in a game or go nuclear from 3 and lose my money.

Bracket challenge, bowl challenge on surly and a family fantasy league is the closest I will get to sports gambling

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

I find sports fairly unviewable these days anyway. Except for Longhorns football games, I’m cool with only turning on games in the last 15 minutes.

edit: but to the OP’s question, I find the attention on sports gambling during games and pregames to be distracting. It’s also adds to the hypocrisy of sports. Which I don’t care except many sports announcers refuse to acknowledge it.

Edited March 10 by Nice Guy Eddie

[Js1 85353]

2 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

When it’s a credit card accepting app and targeted to the dopamine-by-swipe addicted gen-z who get high on dating apps, TikTok and gambling, it feels like watching a slow motion train wreck.

I’d bet (lol) the major demographic of sports betters is not Gen Z. 

[Chopper 17236]

I also find it annoying esp the onslaught of advertisements. Apparently -- in states where it's legal or legal-adjacent the gambling companies are using the popularity of sports betting as a hook to other, more profitable, games such as urging those with the apps to play a couple quick hands of blackjack or rolls of the dice.

[HRSchenker 2268]

I used to laugh at people when their team lost and they'd yell about how the game was "rigged". Not anymore. The way the leagues are embracing gambling really bothers me. When Tim Donaghy was caught rigging NBA games it was a big deal at the time but I think a modern day Tim Donaghy would destroy a sport. If the NFL had its own Tim Donaghy controversy would people stop watching professional football? I probably would.

[Guest]

I'd think it might be a bit different here since the online sportsbooks aren't legal in Texas. Not saying there isn't gambling, but it may not be a pervasive as in other parts of the country.

I think sports betting from your phone on your couch is bad idea jeans in general. 

[EastHorn 281]

It has made me dislike ESPN more.  It has moved them from a sports news and entertainment product to sports betting product.  I think there will be a blow-back on sports betting.  Having facebook style level of data in the hands of draft kings with their app on a phone is not going to end well for a lot of people.  

[EastHorn 281]

25 minutes ago, Chopper said:

I also find it annoying esp the onslaught of advertisements. Apparently -- in states where it's legal or legal-adjacent the gambling companies are using the popularity of sports betting as a hook to other, more profitable, games such as urging those with the apps to play a couple quick hands of blackjack or rolls of the dice.

A lot of people say this is the longterm play.  A casino on your phone.  At some point they have to in order to keep growing.  

[Parliament 14260]

Sports fans have become especially aholish and I think gambling is a contributor.

[Chopper 17236]

1 hour ago, EastHorn said:

A lot of people say this is the longterm play.  A casino on your phone.  At some point they have to in order to keep growing.  

Sports betting is socially acceptable and therefore easy for online casinos to use as a hook. But has less favorable odds for the 'House' when compared to 'games of chance' like cards or dice.

[billfromlaketravis 11493]

I lost $50 on a Titans game in college. Henry could have walked in a TD, but they did the knell down bullshit at the 1 and kicked a field goal as time expired. Spread was -4.

For reference, I lived on $50 a week while in school. I’ve been out ever since, and I couldn’t be happier. 

[usmc0331horn 953]

I never bet on games and I even stopped playing fantasy football like 10 years ago. The focus on betting and gambling is horrendous and I'm sick of hearing about it. After my Chiefs won the super bowl a kid on the baseball team at my school asked if I bet on the game. So like drugs kids are being advertised to and it is normalized for them to be betting on games now. Like wtf? I'm sure there are just so many gambling addicts now compared to what there were just a few years ago with it being everywhere now.

[0xdeadbeef 1651]

The new sports betting sites don't bother me at all, I just don't have a need for them. 

I already get my gambling fix trading securities on the stock market.  (NVDA FOREVER!!!)

 

[atomheartbevo 89686]

2 hours ago, HRSchenker said:

If the NFL had its own Tim Donaghy controversy would people stop watching professional football?

Thankfully Bud Adam’s ensured that I would rarely watch the NFL after 1996, so I don’t know about that, but the commentary during some events can be annoying, especially when a lot of the the actual audience watching said events are probably not gambling on them.

I’ve done the March brackets and fantasy football, and had a lot of fun - yeah the pots were never that big for me, so I didn’t sweat it - the whole process around them was more fun than the final outcomes.  Having the gambling stuff creep into sports broadcasts are very annoying.

I do find it both amusing and irritating that casino interests in Oklahoma and Louisiana work with the Bible Thumpers in Texas to keep the legislature from allowing casinos in Texas under the guise of protecting us from ourselves.  All the while a shitload of Texans are gambling every day  in thousands of grocery stores and gas stations across the state, thanks to the lotteries.  For those worried about gambling and what it can do to people, go hang out at a convenience store in a low-income neighborhood or rural area and have your eyes opened.  It’s here, it’s just so pervasive you don’t realize it.  

[B00M 6416]

I’m not a gambler and there aren’t gamblers in my family so, nope. Gambling has always been a part of sports

[UpperWestside 6169]

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

For those worried about gambling and what it can do to people, go hang out at a convenience store in a low-income neighborhood or rural area and have your eyes opened.  It’s here, it’s just so pervasive you don’t realize it.  

I can confirm this also here where I live in East Harlem. I get on the 6 train at 103rd street sometimes when I head to mid-town and right next to it is a bodega that sells lottery tickets. Some of the poorest people in my neighborhood are the ones in there day after day handing over what little money they have hoping to strike it rich. The line is always longer for the lottery than the one to buy something to eat or drink. It is beyond sad to see it honestly. 

[StassneyHorn 6583]

Im sure there are late millennials putting 100 dollars on 8 leg parlays as a way to put a down payment on a house

[Incredulity 11675]

1 hour ago, UpperWestside said:

Some of the poorest people in my neighborhood are the ones in there day after day handing over what little money they have hoping to strike it rich. The line is always longer for the lottery than the one to buy something to eat or drink. It is beyond sad to see it honestly. 

I think the lottery is evil.  State sponsored addiction.  It’s the most regressive of all taxes.

[Parliament 14260]

I'll jump in and say the native american casinos too.  You don't see expensive cars in the parking lot, or youthfyl, vibrant people at the slot machines.

[hayden_horn 11362]

the fuck have yall been?

i used to send money to managua via western union to some random person to fund my online offshore account i had in college 25 fucking years ago.

made a ton of beer money off that thank you dallas stars especially

[demos 3003]

Listen to a lot less sports radio because they spend so much time on it and I don’t care.

[Rimbo 25946]

On 3/9/2024 at 11:11 AM, Neonmoon said:

No. 

 

On 3/9/2024 at 11:13 AM, ConferenceRoom said:

Not even a little bit. 

 

On 3/9/2024 at 1:54 PM, Js1 said:

Not even a little. I find the complete lack of accountability in officiating to be a far bigger turnoff. 

 

On 3/10/2024 at 11:21 AM, B00M said:

I’m not a gambler and there aren’t gamblers in my family so, nope. Gambling has always been a part of sports

 

☝️

It's always been part of sports. I don't partake, because I think betting on sports is for suckers, but there's nothing new here.