In the seven years since sports betting became legal again it has grown massively every year, turning it from a somewhat niche industry into an activity that Americans spend well over $100 billion yearly. Sports betting has helped boost the economy through the money that Americans are spending on sports gambling.

“It drives viewership, which increases money,” junior Thomas Dickman said. ”That increases the amount the players get paid.”

which is great in theory, but every year since legal sports gambling was reinstated it feels like there are more and more athletes, coaches, referees, and more people in sporting organizations are being caught for betting on games. Even in the last few months there have been numerous major betting scandals in the NBA, MLB, the NCAA, and more leagues. How many of these scandals and bans due to sports betting will it take for someone to do something major?

From June 2, 1992 to May 14, 2018 the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act or PASPA for short made sports betting illegal except for a small handful of states, most notably Nevada. In the 26 years when PASPA was around there were a dozen or so notable sports betting scandals like referee Tim Donaghy betting on the Lakers to win game 6 of the 2002 western conference finals and giving the Lakers 20 4th Quarter free throws, Quinton Broussard fumbling to sway the outcome of the GMAC bowl in 2005, and multiple Toledo athletes committing sports bribery. The amount of scandals during this time is nothing compared to the last 7 years since PASPA was taken down.

Many people still think that this is not that big of a problem on the field, including Max Peterson.

“I don’t think it affects the play on the field very much,” Peterson said, “because at the end of the day, most players still want to win.”

While it is true that most players still want to win, it doesn’t change the fact that per year there are more betting scandals happening. This is not the only reason though, as part of the reason for the boost in scandals is because of how much easier it is to bet now thanks to the rise of sports betting on the internet.

When sports betting on the internet first came around in the 1990’s there was a pretty big boost in casual people getting into sports betting, but when Iphones released in 2009 it became even easier for people to bet. People could bet whenever they wanted wherever they wanted, at the bar, on the couch, at 5 am, right before game time, etc. The sports betting market was waiting for the end of PASPA, and right when the end of PASPA happened the market absolutely exploded. You can’t go anywhere without seeing an ad for a sports betting app, social media, ESPN, stadiums, billboards, and whatever else can fit an ad. The market has gotten bigger every year since 2018 and shows no signs of slowing down. Players just like the general now don’t have to go completely out of their way to make bets, unlike the general public they do have to hide their bets because they are illegal, but after they hide it they can just go on fanduel, underdog, or another app and do their parlay. 

There isn’t one factual way that sports betting has impacted sports on the field performance, but it has definitely has. Outside of athletes purposely selling the game to win their bets, which obviously impacts the game, lots of athletes complain about harassment from bettors. Even though athletes shouldn’t need to feel the pressure from people betting on them, sometimes they do.

Kai Patterson pointed out how “It can make them (players) stressed and nervous if people have millions dollars riding on them.”

During the last March Madness tournament 1 in 3 of all the athletes reported that they experienced abusive behavior due to betting. This abuse puts extra pressure on these athletes for no reason, affecting the product during the game. 

In the seven years since sports betting became legal again it has grown massively every year, turning it from a somewhat niche industry into an activity that Americans spend well over $100 billion yearly. Sports betting has helped boost the economy through the money that Americans are spending on sports gambling.

“It drives viewership, which increases money,” junior Thomas Dickman said. ”That increases the amount the players get paid.”

which is great in theory, but every year since legal sports gambling was reinstated it feels like there are more and more athletes, coaches, referees, and more people in sporting organizations are being caught for betting on games. Even in the last few months there have been numerous major betting scandals in the NBA, MLB, the NCAA, and more leagues. How many of these scandals and bans due to sports betting will it take for someone to do something major?

From June 2, 1992 to May 14, 2018 the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act or PASPA for short made sports betting illegal except for a small handful of states, most notably Nevada. In the 26 years when PASPA was around there were a dozen or so notable sports betting scandals like referee Tim Donaghy betting on the Lakers to win game 6 of the 2002 western conference finals and giving the Lakers 20 4th Quarter free throws, Quinton Broussard fumbling to sway the outcome of the GMAC bowl in 2005, and multiple Toledo athletes committing sports bribery. The amount of scandals during this time is nothing compared to the last 7 years since PASPA was taken down.

Many people still think that this is not that big of a problem on the field, including Max Peterson.

“I don’t think it affects the play on the field very much,” Peterson said, “because at the end of the day, most players still want to win.”

While it is true that most players still want to win, it doesn’t change the fact that per year there are more betting scandals happening. This is not the only reason though, as part of the reason for the boost in scandals is because of how much easier it is to bet now thanks to the rise of sports betting on the internet.

When sports betting on the internet first came around in the 1990’s there was a pretty big boost in casual people getting into sports betting, but when Iphones released in 2009 it became even easier for people to bet. People could bet whenever they wanted wherever they wanted, at the bar, on the couch, at 5 am, right before game time, etc. The sports betting market was waiting for the end of PASPA, and right when the end of PASPA happened the market absolutely exploded. You can’t go anywhere without seeing an ad for a sports betting app, social media, ESPN, stadiums, billboards, and whatever else can fit an ad. The market has gotten bigger every year since 2018 and shows no signs of slowing down. Players just like the general now don’t have to go completely out of their way to make bets, unlike the general public they do have to hide their bets because they are illegal, but after they hide it they can just go on fanduel, underdog, or another app and do their parlay. 

There isn’t one factual way that sports betting has impacted sports on the field performance, but it has definitely has. Outside of athletes purposely selling the game to win their bets, which obviously impacts the game, lots of athletes complain about harassment from bettors. Even though athletes shouldn’t need to feel the pressure from people betting on them, sometimes they do.

Kai Patterson pointed out how “It can make them (players) stressed and nervous if people have millions dollars riding on them.”

During the last March Madness tournament 1 in 3 of all the athletes reported that they experienced abusive behavior due to betting. This abuse puts extra pressure on these athletes for no reason, affecting the product during the game.