Sports betting has gotten out of hand and professional leagues are, in part, responsible.
The news of Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley’s impending betting scandal hit me pretty hard as a lifelong Pistons fan. Watching him light up the court last season gave me hope for my team that I haven’t felt in a long, long time.
On Sunday, NBA insider Shams Charania reported the FBI was opening an investigation into Beasley and allegations of gambling on NBA games and prop bets. On Tuesday, more news broke about the state of Beasley’s finances, revealing his massive debts to multiple entities including a marketing firm, a dentist, a landlord and a lender.
Beasley is the second NBA player in the last two seasons to be investigated for serious gambling allegations and unpaid debts. Each of them are now additions to a lengthening list of names in professional sports.
I’m not too young to remember when professional sports leagues — and athletes — were vehemently against betting. But since sports betting was legalized in 2018, professional leagues have gotten into bed with the same entities they once villainized. Y’all remember Pete Rose’s scandal? How about the rumors that Michael Jordan’s gambling addiction contributed to his first retirement from the league in 1993? Back then, those scandals were seen as threatening to the integrity of the game. Today, every single major professional league has partnered with a gambling company and effusively promoted sports betting in its many forms.
ESPN has segments dedicated to betting now, too.
Whether legal or illegal, sports betting is still threatening to the integrity of the game, now more than ever.
Gambling has been the source of unhappiness and financial problems for families and individuals for centuries. Online betting is a new type of temptation, and it has caused rampant abuse of players, referees and even contributed to domestic violence. Research has indicated that when a professional football team loses unexpectedly, intimate partner violence increases by 10%.
The American Institute for Boys and Men has published multiple articles detailing the financial and mental impacts of sports betting. They report greater declines in credit scores, lower credit limits and higher rates of bankruptcy.
The wide-reaching endorsement of sports betting by professional leagues is having notably harmful effects on men, including professional athletes, in many ways. Leagues should begin to take accountability for these consequences and divest in sports betting organizations.
Ana Sofia Meyers is the sports reporter for Tallapoosa Publishers Inc.
