Betting Sucks Now

I grew up in Orange county Indiana, the poorest county in Indiana back in the 90s. Add on a low rural population and funding for schools was not great. I distinctly remember my 6th grade school subject books were from the late 70s. My science book talked about the amazing things that could be done on the SkyLab space station.

In late 2004 (My senior year of high school) Indiana allowed for riverboat gambling to be legal in the state. By law, a riverboat casino had to be surrounded on three sides by water. In orange county, the townships of West Baden and French Lick set out to build a riverboat on dry land, by building a casino that looked like a riverboat and had 1 foot deep reflection pools on three sides.

I can remember the outrage and controversy stirred up in the community about having a caSINo in the county. But ultimately, the casino was build because of the significant taxes it would pay the county. Not only that, but the casino would have to regularly buy new school books for all the county’s public schools¹ . Almost 20 years later and the schools are some of the best funded in the state (by student ratio), with the schools getting major upgrades or renovations. In fact, my home high school alma mater just won the Indiana Boy’s Basketball state championship this year; No doubt a reflection of sports programs and facilities improved by the casinos² .

I say this to point out that I see the benefit of allowing legal gambling. If it’s going to be happening whether it is legal or not, so we might as well benefit schools.

I also have no personal vendetta against gambling. Growing up near Churchill Downs, my family would regularly spend a day down at the horse track. Betting $2 a race in general admissions seats, would cost lest than $50 and hey, you might make your money back. I personally don’t gamble in casinos but I still love going to Churchill with my family, betting $2 on a horse with a funny name every race and -at worst- be down $20.

I do know however, I am very fortunate that, though I have an addictive personality, over-betting on casino games was never one my vices. I see the allure sure, but as someone who grew up without money, the ridiculousness of spending $5 on one spin of the roulette wheel outweighs any (unlikely) winnings.

All this talk about gambling was spurred on by the MLB finally allowing Pete Rose to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Long story short, Rose was one of the best players of all time and got a lifetime ban from the Hall of Fame for betting while he was playing³ . He passed away last year and the MLB just mandated that Rose and all other banned players who have passed, can now be added to the HoF.

This may seem like a generous thing for the MLB to do, posthumously preserve the legacy of some of it’s greatest players but I think the timing has more to do with preserving face in light of the takeover of sports betting books.

Betting in sports is everywhere. If you are adjacent to sports in anyway you have most definitely heard a podcast advert for Draft Kings or Hard Rock Bets. It’s gross, predatory and most importantly, uncool.

To make a sports bet back in the day you had to know a bookie who would take your bets. Sure you could bet on anything but the bookie had to give you odds so the bet would be somewhat fair. This would happen in the back of smoke filled bars, factory lunch rooms, union halls and church BBQs. Now you download an app. BoRANG!

Another side effect of easy accessibility to sports gambling is, well, it’s accessibility. Many people who would have never engaged with betting have and will now be betting on sports. This easy and risky reward system is terrible addicts. I have no numbers or studies for this but anecdotally, being in and round the recovery community for a decade now, I have herad how many addicts’ relapses started with gambling at a casino. I can only imagine how easy it would be for a simple bet on Draft Kings to start them on a bender.

In all seriousness I highly suspect that despite sports gambling being more accessible and prolific that any communities are directly or positively affected like my home county. I could probably guess that rich people are getting richer at the cost of normal folks wallets’. AND I would bet that the MLB, by allowing betting players in the HoF is trying to soften the dissonance that fans may be feeling about betting on a sport that actively and harshly punishes former players for betting.

I could be hyperbolic and say sports betting is ruining sports and while I don’t think that’s true, I think’s its ruining the act of being a sports fan.

I live and LA and I can ride my bike to Dodger Stadium. This has been a dream of mine forever, to live close enough to a stadium that I could just decide randomly to go to a game. But last night the cheapest seat in the nosebleeds was $75⁴ . The mental gymnastics I would have to do to justify spending that money in this economy on a whim is already a lot to ask of a fan. But then to know that half of the advertising around the stadium would be for FanDuel or some shit just hurts my brain.

As always, the lie of capitalism is that it is a natural part of human nature and is unstoppable and why even try here parley 6 bets into 1 and win 50% more when you bet $100 or more!

1  Though homeschooling is an option and there are multiple Amish schoolhouses, private schools never existed in Orange county.

2  I cannot describe to an outsider how huge high school basketball is in the the state of Indiana. Orleans is a school that is not big enough to support a football team so basketball games were a singular town wide fall/winter season event, standing room only.

3  It should be noted that Rose claimed he only ever bet on his team to win. Is it true…eh?

4  Granted, the Dodgers are one of the most popular franchises in the MLB in one of the biggest markets.