'I literally can't stop.' The descent of a modern sports fan

[RandySF]

Jordan Holt typed furiously on his computer in his Phoenix hotel room, searching for information on Indiana Pacers guard Buddy Hield. Holt, a 43-year-old meter and relay technician, was steaming mad, having just watched an NBA game between the Boston Celtics and the Pacers.

Hield had made a 3-pointer at the buzzer in a game that the Pacers had already secured, breaking an unwritten rule in late-game etiquette. But Holt wasn’t angry about Hield’s rubbing in the score. He was angry because the three points pushed the final score to 122-112 … one point above the over/under line on his parlay bet.

Holt lost the $100 bet — but in his mind, he lost $700 in what should have been winnings.

“I started searching for his Instagram address,” Holt said. “I was going to scream at him. I wanted to go off on him.”

It was December 2023, and Holt was deep in the spiral of a rapidly growing problem: online sports betting addiction.




https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5777632/2024/10/14/sports-betting-addiction-problem-fans/?UTM=NYTI_AUC_ATHLETC_COUSA_TW_SO_WTCP_XXXXXXXXXX_INTER_000000XXX_2PTW_XXXX_SPORTSINTXPRO_X18PL_COUSA_XXXXX_TWITOA_SBET_0X_EN_PG_NFLINKS&site=x&campaign_id=36578818&source=twitterpcads&ad-keywords=auddevgate&twclid=23gq91o1ajthkdhs3x6cmpl9y7

[RandySF]

1. Note

On a recent podcast, the Bulls'' Lonzo Ball said he occasionally receives abusive comments at games because he "ruined" their parlays.

[Mike 03]

2. I wonder if sports fans would say the betting is

hurting the sports? (I like sports but I'm not aficionado enough to make this call).

I know that on SiriusXM, the callers to the sports talk shows often talk about betting. It probably puts more pressure on the athletes, the refs. There's a channel devoted only to sports gambling.

And remember the great KGO radio up there in the SF Bay Area? As you probably know that legendary station is now some kind of sports betting station. What an atrocity! (God I miss the old KGO. At night we could even pull it in here in northern AZ).

[RandySF]

4. I suspect some of the vitriol around the WNBA fandom is gambling related.

[underpants]

5. It's ever present and ESPN being directly involved is absurd

I don’t gamble on games. 21 sure but I’m just bad at picking games.

ESPN has the ability to influence bets. Point spreads aren’t completely dependent on the strength of teams, it moves depending on how money is being bet. Everyone pays a % (“the vig”) so a bookmaker just wants as equal an amount as possible on both sides of the bet. Notre Dame spreads are always skewed to try to lure money in against the Domers. There’s a set amount of people who will never bet against ND so the spread has to be set to draw in everyone else.

[RandySF]

6. You cannot watch a sporting event or listen to a podcast without betting ads.

[underpants]

7. Yep.

Pete Rozelle is rolling over in his grave. He was certain (and right) that the League would never grow, especially in the South, if there was any indication of it being fixed. He suspended Hornung and Alex Karras for whole seasons. He forced Namath to sell his share of a restaurant. I don’t think he liked Jimmy the Greek being on a network pregame show. The idea of there being a team IN Vegas was totally out of the question.

ESPN used to dance around it with commentators picks put gamblers knew what they were saying with respect to the spread. Now, it’s wide open

[Mike 03]

3. The truth about why daddy couldn't afford eggs back in October. NT

[Bristlecone]

8. If Jordan took the over on the parlay line he'd have been cheering

Sports betting will be the next opioid crisis.

[LisaM]

9. This is so true and I think fantasy sports are a problem, too.

I never bought into fantasy sports, partly because you can no longer just get a score, you have to slog through a river of stats first, and also because of what you mention, because people are literally angry if their fantasy player gets pulled, even if their team is ahead by a wide margin. I remember my brother getting mad at me once because the Seattle Sonics weren't playing Benoit Benjamin enough. Clearly this has been going on for a long time.

But parlay betting is an even worse scourge. For one thing, it's a temptation to lower-paid athletes (so look for it to infect college sports soon). People parlay on things that don't affect the game so can go unnoticed. The example I heard (on CBC radio) was a hockey player who did things like commit the first offsides in a game (yes, people bet on that, it's not just point spreads). He was found out and it ruined his career.