(WGHP) — Josh Ellinger makes no secret of his love for sports and his enjoyment of dropping a few bucks on potential outcomes.
As part of the cast of the popular morning radio show, Two People Named Chris, he, known by his on-air name Biggie, often talks about his weekend bets.
“I knew (online sports betting) was coming…I was really looking forward to it,” Biggie said.
He has been gambling for over 20 years.
“When I turned 21, my dad took me to Las Vegas,” Biggie said.
Online, the entire world of sports is at your fingertips. While it's just a hobby for Biggie, it can be much more than that for many.
“Do you think that's good for the sport as a whole?” No, I don't. I think this will lead to the collapse of traditional fandom,” said David Bocchino, associate professor of sports management at Elon University.
His new book is titled “Game On: How Sports Media Grew, Sold Out, and Got Personal with Billions of Fans.”
“For the league, is it going to increase viewership and engagement and all these buzzwords that they love to talk about,” Bocking said. “For sports as a cultural and social entity, is it good for us Americans to gamble on sports? I think the answer is no. I think it's more fun to root for the team for the sake of the team. ”
“The whole problem of gambling is, in some ways, very similar to what we've seen with Prohibition,” said Bill Squadron, also an assistant professor of sports management at Elon University.
“Once the Internet became a factor, it exploded and became global, offshore, international…suddenly there was no way to manage it and…the prohibition model began,” the squadron said. .
“In the 2000s and 2010s, a lot of people were gambling with offshore books. And the league looked around and saw media rights bringing in tons of money and said, 'How can I make more money?' I got to the point where I was like, “Can I make that much money?'' 'And legalized gambling was kind of the vehicle to make that happen,'' Bocchino said.
States across the country recognized the financial benefits of legalizing and then taxing it, and an industry was born.
Because today's players are so lucrative, both professors said this gambling is unlikely to lead to a major scandal like the 1919 Chicago White Sox, who became known as the “Black Sox.” ing.
Some of them admitted to accepting money from gamblers to host the games. However, problems can still arise, especially with what are called proposition bets.
Those are small bets like: Can the running back gain at least 23 yards in the third quarter?
“This simply opens up the possibility that the outcome of the match will be manipulated in such a way that it is much more difficult to fix, or at least creates the suspicion that it is,” Squadron said.
Despite the question of whether it's addictive, Biggie believes gambling money is part of your entertainment budget, no different than whether you rent a movie or order dinner that night. That's what it means.
“I feel lucky that I was able to win what I have and stick with my initial investment. At some point, I'm going to run out. That's just the way it is,” Biggie said.
For more information on sports gambling, see this issue of the Buckley Report.
