I have always had conflicted feelings when it comes to sports gambling. I understand the enjoyment one can receive from a winning parlay but I see the inverse when people lose their temper on a losing one.
Believe it or not, in my last semester at the University of Georgia I actually took a class on sports betting and the culture surrounding it. We did deep dives into the dopamine released in the brain when sports betting and the addictive traits you can get from it. When we had guest speakers, we wrote research papers, group discussions, the whole nine yards on the subject.
One of the most memorable instances from that class was when we had Erin Dolan, the sports betting analyst for ESPN video call in. She talked about how she got into the profession and what she brings to the table, but I couldn’t help but get an eerie feeling hearing her describe the audience of sports bettors she caters to. At one point she used the word degenerate, which I could not help but cringe at when she said those words. She would further go on to describe her experiences involving harassment and stalking when her “locks” of the week would fail.
I also think of just recently the flack that Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne received after his play against California in week two of the college football season. He talked about how students who lost money from betting found his Venmo and requested the money they lost back.
We can chop it up to just some college students messing around, but there had to have been a level of sincerity to actively search for Thorne’s Venmo account.
Sports gambling has been something that has exploded in recent years. It's getting to the point when you watch a game at either the professional or collegiate level where commentators comment on the subject, you can blame them either. Companies like Underdog, PrizePicks, FanDuel and now ESPN have been shelling out money on advertisements to get you to spend yours.
Although sports gambling is illegal in the state of Alabama there are still ways around it. You can gamble on sports on what is called player prop bets, which to avoid a long explanation is just picking whether a player will go higher or lower than the projected line set by the apps. However, things are constantly in motion to make sports gambling legal in the state with bills regarding the matter popping up each year.
Personally, I am not against the idea when it comes to sports betting. Everyone has the right to decide what they do with their money, but I also feel caution should be taken into account before you place your first bet.
The conversation around sports gambling will continue to persist until it is finally legalized. I do find the conversation around the matter to be interesting as someone who took part in those player prop bets while in college.
Samuel Higgs is the sports editor of The Outlook.