Twenty-five years ago, Pete Rose was banned from baseball for betting on his sport. Not everybody agreed, but the league made the final decision. Today, all the major sports businesses are in bed with the sports bet industry, a draconian change from the days of Pete Rose.

And why not? The expenses are increasing and the revenues must follow. There are just so many consumers who will pay to purchase a seat in the arena for an entire season, and even for a single game. There is a finite number of millionaires willing to support their local team, and reserve a corporate skybox. Companies aren’t coming to the team’s office to spend a lot of money on ads anymore. They send a lot of advertising dollars to Google, Facebook and other Internet service providers.

So enter the sports bets steamroller. With the Supreme Court decision of 2018, state legislatures looked at sports betting as another source of revenue to help fund their growing deficits. New laws soon followed to make sure the state received its fair share of the revenues. They get some, but they’re not the biggest winners.

Today, the major sports organizations are all in, as they say. Many years ago, Jai-Alai betting was permitted, but now sports bets have expanded to include tennis and other sports. A major sports bet enterprise, FanDuel, is even the major sponsor of TV tennis coverage. They splash the game odds on the screen and invite everyone to ‘place their bet’. Sports bets aren’t new. It started in Las Vegas in 1949. You could place a bet on a slew of sports, but mostly on the outcome: who will win the game? Today micro-bets are being planned where, from your phone, you’ll bet able to place a bet on the next pitch (ball or strike) or the next service in tennis (in or out). Technology will allow it.

The sports bet companies are following the leadership of Las Vegas. The sports bet companies manipulate the odds so that the house always wins a certain percentage. As the number of bets increases, the house earns more money. Sure, once in a while someone will win big. But in reality, the house wins big EVERY DAY.

The industry will tell you loud and clear you can win tremendous prizes. But for every ten thousand dollar winner, there are maybe ten thousand $100 losers. 

There are financial risks with betting, it’s obvious. Your chances of winning are small. Just watch the odds. Why Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are not at the betting table should give you a good idea that getting rich is not through sports betting.

Addiction is another issue. When Phil Mickelson throws money away, it’s his choice and he can afford it. But can a married man, father of two, get involved in bets hoping to get rich? The odds are certainly not in his favor.

And what about the elephant in the room? Will players be approached to ‘throw’ games? To influence the outcome? A single player can have a serious influence on a football game or a baseball game, so imagine a tennis game or a golf tournament. Just recently, a football team with a few seconds on the clock tried an improbable field goal just to ‘cover’ the bet. They were down by 10, and the spread was 7. A field goal would not give them a win, but would cover the bet with all the possibilities of injuries to their own players. These are the decisions we will see in the future.

Do you have an opinion? I would like to hear from you.