While tailgating in advance of Saturday’s home opener for West Virginia against football powerhouse Robert Morris (hey, there’s no shame in having a tuneup), a man in his early 20s approached me with a specific question.
“Who should I bet on to win the Super Bowl this year?”
My response: “Don’t bet.”
While the money wagered through sports betting can be (if done in moderation without chasing losses or deluding yourself into thinking you can turn it into a career) enjoyable entertainment, the raw dollars suggest that something more than entertainment is happening. As recently explained by David Purdum of ESPN.com, the American Gaming Association expects roughly $30 billion to be wagered on the NFL in the upcoming football season.
Pro football has become the king of sports betting, which is now legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Even with only 272 regular-season games and 13 postseason games, it draws in far more than sports with far longer seasons.
I’m not anti-gambling. I’m pro-making sure people understand that it’s very hard to turn a long-term profit. And that it’s very easy to develop an addiction that can ruin lives.
My dad was a compulsive gambler who eventually realized the only way to make consistent money was to become a bookie. He told me at a very young age, “You can’t win.”
In the old days, you needed to find a bookie. Nowadays, young men celebrate their 21st birthdays not by buying a beer in a bar (they all have fake IDs) but by downloading an app and chasing easy money.
The only easy money is the money they’re all pumping into the coffers of the sportsbooks.
I was 20 the first time I walked into a Nevada casino. I looked around. I saw how nice it was. How expensive everything seemed to be. How they were giving away free drinks. I immediately knew who had paid for all of that, and who would keep on paying for it.
There’s nothing wrong with people understanding this. If you have the money and if you don’t believe you’re going to get rich through sports betting, it can enhance your enjoyment of the game — if enjoyment of the game for what it is isn’t enough for you.
So be smart. Be careful. The sportsbooks aren’t going broke. The major operations are now multi-multi-billion-dollar companies.
Who do you think paid for all of that? Who do you think will keep paying for it?
Just be aware of this before you start turning your own hard-earned cash into easy money. For them, not for you.