The Only Crime WORSE than MURDER: SPORTS BETTING

The personal and social costs of gambling abuse of all forms are staggering, just like those associated with a chemical addiction. Go here for more. Lots of governments claim that casinos will rake in big bucks for their constituents. This is true for First Peoples Nations, and Las Vegas, where the tellers rake in the cash and the governments export the consequences. For a place like Maine, it's soon realized that the costs of dealing with gambling addiction (I originally wrote "gambling addition", an interesting Freudian slip, and an oxymoron - gamblers by definition can't add), gambling-related crime, and similarly related social problems soak up all the casino profits, and then some.

For the major leagues, it's all about money, as usual. Horse racing in New England, while I was growing up, was universally regarded as "fixed". Tracks died in droves. Those that remain today are mostly slot-machine parlors - horse racing can't make it on its own. The Black Sox scandal threatened to kill (white) Major League Baseball. What? The only pro ball in America is the Negro Leagues! The hard response of baseball to gambling in its midst is baseball's attempt to ensure it doesn't share the fate of horse racing.

Gambling by anybody else (i.e. fans) is diffo. That brings in cash, and exports the problems. American football is such a dumb game, it only survives today because it has captured the sports betting market. The headline is not whether the 49ers won but whether they beat the spread.

I don't like what that says about us.

wow, you couldn't be more wrong...not your comments about gambling and addiction but your take of football. have you ever been to an American futball game...Futbal Americano is the highest grossing league in the world not because of gambling but because ofa rabid, loyal fanbase. When the Giants lost 23-0 in the playoffs and I saw two 50 year old men crying in the parking lot, it wasn't because they just lost money.
I agree the nature of the sport attracts alot more gambling action than any other sport, and that doesn't hurt its revenue...i mean you can't really handicap a sport like soccer where games end 1-0, or 2-1 all the time...how would you bet on that? Football revolutionized gambling not the other way around, there was gambling before football- there just weren't any point spreads
Jimmy the Greek Snyder created the points spread in sprots and it definately added to the rise of football's popularity- it's also helped basketball as well.

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Sir Eelloquacious von Cuddlesteen-Twitty Has a Blog/Double Your $$$ and Your Blogging Pleasure

I thought it was interesting that when I went to write my daily betting blog, this blog was the first one I saw. But anyways, I am not here to defend gambling, but rather my right to if I so choose and I do it legally. I have to take issue with the comparison of a gambling addict to a crack head. I have spent a lot of time in casinos and I never met someone who I could proclaim as a bonified gambling addict so I may be off base with my assertion. But I have seen and dealt with people that were and are addicted to drugs like crack or cocaine and I must say the effects do not seem to be similar, but I will do research so I am not speaking from a voice of ignorance. Also I have to take issue with the statement that football only survives because of gambling. That is a cynic's point of view. Football is the greatest game. It is only a 16 game season so every game matters. Each team plays one game a week so the anticipation is crazy. A matchup of two good teams in Week 7 is hyped more than a basketball playoff game. It is the most cerebral of all the games. It takes a week to prep for your next opponent and to recooperate your body, which takes me to my next point. We love the physical nature of the game. I played football and I used to love to bleed on the field. It inspired me to play harder, to see what I had in me. I may be deviating from where this discussion started, but as a football purist I feel I have to defend it against someone who says it exists because of gambling.

I have to admit, I like to bet on the football games. I play a five dollar a week pool with coworkers. I think it makes the game even more exciting. Believe me, I'd still watch it even if money wasn't involved. Is that wrong? Should I be jailed if I was caught? I do agree with Sir E. about the emotions behind the game not being about money, but there are people (especially at my husbands plant) who do cry when they didn't win becuase they lost that months rent becuase they had "bad numbers".
BUT I do also agree with what O'C said about the game making headlines because of the spread. I don't think that's the ONLY reason that football lives, but I do get where you are coming from, I hear about the damn spread 24/7 at the bar. In fact we have to have the "spread sheets" posted in the bathrooms and on the bar so customers can "copy" them. That's a little over board, don't you say?

Yup, I thought you'd get a kick out of this topic!

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