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Sports betting became legal in the United States in May of 2018. Since that time, there have been plenty of stories and controversies published in the sports news world that involve s professional athletes.
Most recently, the NBA had a gambling situation with Jontay Porter. Porter was a player for the Toronto Raptors who bet on himself actively during the 2023-2024 season. He allegedly made bets with upwards of $40,000 wagered on himself and faked injuries to make sure those bets won.
After the NBA investigated him, he was found guilty and was given a lifetime ban by the NBA for gambling.
SAU students gave their perspectives on this situation and how gambling has impacted professional sports as a whole.
Senior Elijah Jakovec was on board with the NBA’s decision to ban Porter for life from the league, “I do believe Jontay Porter received a fair punishment because he bet on himself and his team losing, which isn’t fair to him, his teammates and the Raptors organization.”
Meanwhile, Junior Cole Negen thought more of the ethics behind the decision by the NBA’s commissioner, Adam Silver.
“I do not think he received a fair punishment. If you compare that [decision] morally with some players that are convicted of domestic abuse and other things and are allowed to still play in the league, I don’t think a lifetime ban for gambling is even close to fair,” he said passionately.
NBA player, Miles Bridges is an example of this bias.
Bridges was arrested and given a felony domestic violence charge following an incident where he ended up giving his girlfriend and the mother of his children, a fractured nose and wrist, a torn eardrum, torn neck muscles from choking and a severe concussion.
The NBA gave Bridges a one-year, paid suspension from the league.
Negen went on to elaborate on his perspective, speaking on the factor of a player’s star-power in this kind of situation.
“If it were a bigger name in the league, maybe someone like Lebron James or Kevin Durant for example, this would definitely have not been their punishment.”
In the past 12 months alone there have been situations like this, including Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill. Both played for the Detroit Lions of the NFL and were suspended for six games for sports betting.
Negen feels the entire United States has a gambling problem. “When you promote sportsbooks and all of these things as much as we do in the United States, you can’t act surprised when people use them,” Negen simply stated.
Jakovec went on to address another issue in sports with fans and gambling, “I do believe that pro sports themselves have a gambling problem because people think their lives are being ruined if one of the players doesn’t hit a parlay.”
Gambling has been a very prevalent issue in sports with many athletes receiving rude messages and death threats if they don’t hit their “prop”, which is the desired outcome that people choose to bet money on. Many athletes now will tell fans on social media and in person that they don’t care about their parlays because they are focused on winning the games.
Professional athletes and the leagues that sanction them are not perfect in the slightest, but to say that there is a gambling problem outright would not be accurate due to complexities of sports and gambling situations.
Gambling penalties are not as common as penalties or fouls during games but they are slowly becoming more prevalent as the partnerships between professional leagues and betting sportsbooks grow.
This is something that would be good to keep in mind. If you do gamble please gamble responsibly within legal statutes and if not, hope it doesn’t affect your favorite team.
