Question

• Should We Legalize Sport Betting?
• Develop a one-page statement explaining and justifying your position. Indicate whether your reasoning is based on social theory, moral reasoning, pragmatic business interests, or concern for preserving the integrity of sport.

Answer 1

Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basketball, baseball, hockey, track cycling, auto racing, mixed martial arts, and boxing at both the amateur and professional levels.

The Supreme Court recently reversed a 26-year-old federal ban on sports betting, enabling each state to decide whether to allow wagers to be placed on baseball, basketball, football, hockey, among other sports games. Previously, sports betting had been prohibited nationwide, except in four states – Delaware, Nevada, Montana and Oregon. A vast majority of the American people had supported the legalization of sports betting (55% felt that betting on sports should be legal, only 35% opposed).

In Support of Legalized Sports Betting:

1) It is already a thriving industry.

The betting industry has blossomed regardless of its legality. Illegal sports betting is a multi-billion-dollar industry (some estimates are as high as $150 billion); anyone who wants to place a bet can do so easily online or through local office pools and offshore books. Now, after the Supreme Court decision, states will be more inclined to consider or pass legislation to legalize sports betting, thus allowing people to continue betting but in a regulated and fairer environment. It will also prevent them from dealing with questionable bookies. Moreover, addicts will have fewer stigmas, which may make it easier for them to seek help.

2) It will create huge tax revenue

Sports betting is good for the economy. Legalizing sports betting will obviously create huge state tax revenues. More importantly, it has the potential to create jobs (estimated between 125,000-152,000 jobs) for the American people. Researchers estimate that legalized, regulated sports betting could actually bring in a total of $6 billion in annual revenue for states by 2023.

Moreover, it has potential to bring huge money into the United States and keep it there. Currently, most of the betting takes place online. It is more than likely that legalizing sports betting in America will trigger domestic telecommunications and tech companies to take over the international market.

3) Sports betting is one of the main reasons people watch sports

Watching sports is one of the main ways of entertainment for modern people all over the globe. Betting on different sports makes more people watch sports. It’s a perfect activity for most of them when people can combine watching their favorite sports with gaining some good profit from it. Not only viewers and bettors benefit from it but also the economy, as well as TV providers.

4) Leagues are in Favor of Legalizing Sports Betting

The times when the sports leagues were against sports betting are over now. Both NBA former commissioner David Stern and current one Adam Silver have expressed their pro-betting views. They have noticed only that sports betting should be properly regulated, while states will have a chance to earn more money. Thus, leagues will be compensated for intellectual property; this would solve the problem of illegal bets and contribute to the federal treasury. It was declared in Stern’s public statement in the year 2015.

Against Legalized Sports Betting:

Legalizing sports betting won’t make illegal betting disappear

The main reason people bet with bookies is not the lack of alternative but availability and, most importantly, the generous line of credit that bookies offer. Bettors don’t need to deposit money to bet with bookies, which makes it easier for them to bet with money they don’t have. This is also the main reason wagers get into troubling debt situations. Moreover, bookies will offer better margins and betting rates for their customers since they won’t pay taxes. Thus, legalizing sports betting won’t eliminate illegal betting and the problems that accompany it. For instance, increased opportunities to gamble on sports may increase the amount of gamblers, yet services to help gambling addicts will most likely not rise in parallel.

It will change American sports’ nature

Legalizing gambling on sports will gradually change American sports. As with everything that involves money, the sports industry will become even more commercialized than it is now. In a slow but consistent process, the focus of American sports will become betting rather than the game itself. Anyone who has ever gambled on a sporting event knows that once you place a bet, the focus of the game suddenly becomes money, not the game itself. And that’s not what sports is about.

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal ban on sports betting is reasonable, especially since it is already happening to a large extent, and states deserve to monetarily benefit from it. On the other hand, legalizing betting won’t eliminate illegal betting and will negatively change the nature of sporting events.