The National Football League and Gambling Symbiotic?
Online Casino Advisory has been at pains to point out the unspoken but vital connection between gambling and professional sports leagues for over a year. Now, respected Washington Post journalist and ESPN corespondent David Aldridge has written an article in the Post, calling upon the National Football League to cast aside the hypocrisy and admit the foundations of the league's popularity are gambling, violence, and beer.
While sports organizations in general, and the NFL specifically, campaign against online gambling and frown upon Las Vegas sportsbooks, the interest developed in their contests revolves around the stimulus of personal involvement created by wagering.
As sports analyst Edmund Crumley says, 'The NFL is a league that was first assembled by a group of men who were mostly gamblers. While the public face has been a gosh-golly, apple-pie theme, privately the NFL and organized gambling have many tentacles entwined around one another.'
Fantasy football is just a long-term wager, allowing individuals to bet on players' performances rather than teams', and collecting the pot if the wager proves correct. The NFL and the American legal system have been forced to reconcile the gambling nature of fantasy due to overwhelming popularity; but betting games is the same, substituting a prediction of a team's performance for individual achievements.
The misconception the NFL suffers under is that embracing wagering means increasing public speculation as to the honesty of games. Well, there is already a steady stream of rumors regarding games that "must be fixed."
Crumley says, "What European sports have realized, and the NFL must come to grips with, is that no one prefers a cleaner, honest game than a bookie. Fixes are designed with bookies as targets. Cooperation between sports and casinos inevitably leads to a better regulated and more transparent game."
Now even the Washington Post is calling the NFL out. Take a cue from soccer and tennis, accept that gambling is a big part of the appeal, and regulate the league accordingly.
Recent Comments
| Posted by: ARNIE WEXLER | When: 09/22/2008 11:54:00 AM EST |
| Gambling by Professional Athletes , Coaches , And Referees is not that uncommon In December of 1999 Arnie Wexler, a compulsive-gamblers counselor, went to the National Basketball Association office in Manhattan and met with league officials, players and union officials, concerned about players' gambling. He recalled being told, "We have a problem, and we're trying to find out how bad the problem is." Wexler, a resident of Bradley Beach and former executive director of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling, was told to keep his calender open from January through March, to allow him to address every team in the league. When he didn't hear from the NBA in a few weeks he called and asked, "When do we start?" You don't, he was told. "They said, "The higher ups didn't want the media to find out.' " The talks were canceled. Just read the headlines this week alone----- Charles Barkley Troubled by Gambling Addiction Problem. Dolphins' Will Allen Investigated for Pulling Gun in Dispute Over Gambling Debts. Tim Donaghy x NBA referee is now in recovery for his gambling addiction ======================= When you look at the recent headlines about professional athletes,coaches and referees. and gambling, The odds are very good it might be the tip of the ice burg. Athletes may be more vulnerable than the general population when you look at the soft signs of compulsive gambling: High Levels of energy Unreasonable expectations of winning Very competitive personalities Distorted optimism Bright with high IQ's =============== =========== I run a national help line (1-888-LAST BET ). And over the years, I have spoken to many college and professional athletes who had a gambling problem. An NCAA study a few years ago said, "There is a disturbing trend of gambling among athletes in college." You can't think that these people will get into the pros and then just stop gambling. Compulsive gambling is an addiction just like alcoholism and chemical dependency and all three diseases are recognized by the American Psychiatric Association's D.S.M. Yet, we treat compulsive gambling different then the other two addictions. Society and professional sports treat people with chemical dependency and alcoholism as sick people, send them to treatment and they get back to work yet they look at compulsive gamblers as bad people and they get barred from playing in professional sports If the Colleges and professional leagues wanted to help the players, they would run real programs that seriously address the issue of gambling and compulsive gambling. Education and early detection can make a difference between life and death for some people who have or will end up with a gambling addiction. "They need to have a real program for players, coaches and referees, and they need to let somebody else run it. When you do it in house, it's like the fox running the chicken coop. You must be kidding your self if you think any player coach or referee is going to call the league and say, 'I've got a gambling problem, and I need help?" ARNIE IS A RECOVERING COMPULSIVE GAMBLER WHO PLACED HIS LAST BET 4/10/68 CALL ME I WOULD LOVE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS---ARNIE WEXLER Arnie Wexler (aswexler@aol.com) Arnie & Sheila Wexler Associates 213 3rd Ave. Bradley Beach, NJ 07720 Phone 732 7740019 cell 954--5015270 | |
| Posted by: Elsa | When: 09/22/2008 12:16:22 PM EST |
| What is your point Arnie? It sounds like you think online gambling should be legalized so, like in the UK, sportsbooks can alert the sports leagues if they have players who are known to be gambling, or if suspicious betting activity is occurring. Also, you say "Compulsive gambling is an addiction just like alcoholism and chemical dependency and all three diseases are recognized by the American Psychiatric Association's D.S.M."... Does this mean we should ban gambling for all people because it is a recognized problem for the few? Your information is interesting, certainly, but I'm not sure what your point is related to online gambling. | |
