Granted, no one knew what that Something! actually was, but they knew it had to be done and it had to be done quickly. What has followed are a host of anti-gambling editorials and articles from media, former players, government officials and watchdog groups who claimed to only be on the lookout for 'the common good'.
The most common warning is gambling addiction which, yes, sadly exists. The second argument is Scandal! and dire warnings that something "bad" is going to happen.
However, this following Bloomberg editorial is perhaps the best collection of false flags and bogeymen that I have seen in quite some time, and it deserves a rebuttal because many of its claims and 'facts' are just entirely wrong.
One concern is addiction. More than 2 percent of U.S. adults suffer from gambling disorder, which can impose devastating personal and social costs.You will get no argument from me that gambling addiction is a great social ill. So is alcohol addiction, drug addiction, porn addiction etc. There is certainly more that can be done for addictive personality disorder in America, in all mental health treatment to be honest, but suggesting that legalizing sports betting is going to lead to a sudden spike in gambling addiction is disingenuous at best, dishonest at worst.
The fact is that a lot of the customers for legalized sports betting are going to come from the already mature illegal offshore betting market. This crazy influx of "new" gamblers are probably already betting on games online to a major extent. It's not going to be the case that a person who has never made a bet will suddenly find themselves chained to a sports book. For the most part these are in casinos or betting facilities such as race tracks. It's just a hollow argument.
Continuing on....
Another potential threat is corruption. Gambling has long provided a convenient conduit for organized crime. Point-shaving scandals have marred college sports in the U.S. for decades, while match-fixing is routine in some overseas leagues.
What this argument ignores is the fact that organized crime historically benefited from ILLEGAL gambling, not a legal, regulated gaming market. Benny Binion got his start in Dallas running illegal numbers games, then illegal dice halls, then illegal casinos before moving to Las Vegas and opening Binions.
Yes, organized crime and gambling have a HUGE history, but it's almost exclusively on the illegal, unregulated side of the ledger. This is not to discount the early days of Vegas, through the early 80's when the mob ran the town, but regulation and passage laws that allowed for corporate ownership of casinos and stricter enforcement of laws coupled with IRS crackdowns on "the skim" all but put an end to the Las Vegas mafia except where there's still a presence in the unions.
The fact is that the Las Vegas where organized crime gained a foothold was largely an unregulated, or "self-regulated" market, and only the increased presence of the Nevada Gaming Commission and stronger enforcement, and bigger pocketed corporations, ran them out of town.
Then there's this....
A final, less tangible concern is that gambling could diminish the social value of sports. Athletes are already being subjected to intrusive tracking technology that reduces their every move to data, the better to predict – and profit from – their performance. If civic or sentimental attachments to teams give way to a preoccupation with cash and probabilities, something will have been lost.
Given that cities frequently put Billions of taxpayer dollars on the line for new stadiums, stadium expansions, infrastructure improvement and other team-related expenses, I would argue that this loss of "civic pride" might go some ways to moving the pendulum away from corporate welfare. Bloomberg is acting as if a city's frenzy for their sports team is a good thing, that taking Billions that could have been spent on education (or mental health services) to build a playpen for Billionaires is in the public good. What Bloomberg is really angry about is that their sacred ox is at risk of getting gored.
I don't say any of this to suggest that legalized gambling is without its risks. Of course there are potential downsides. But, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The prohibition of liquor gave rise to the mafia, the prohibition of drugs gave rise to the cartels and the modern gang problem. The prohibition of gambling has created new networks of criminals operating in the shady black-market. What we've learned, and continue to learn, is that Sunshine is the best way to rid the room of rats.
Could there be scandals? Of course. But having effective regulations and regulators surrounding an industry make them far easier to root out than would otherwise be possible in an unregulated market. The analytics of the modern gambling industry allow for warning flags of suspected illicit activity to be spotted early, and more easily ran down should such a thing occur.
One thing NOT needed is a Federal gaming bill. We've already seen what happens when the Feds get involved with PASPA, and with the Department of Justice's flawed ruling on the Wire Act which was really just a give-away to Trump donor (and casino owner) Sheldon Adelson, whose casinos don't have a strong online presence, and are trailing the industry overall.
Sports betting is, and should be, a matter left to the States. Not that they're perfect in regulation but they've been proven moderately effective over the course of time. "We're the Federal Government and we're here to help" is a phrase of terror, not a lifeline for success.
The media needs to hire people who truly understand gambling, and the gambling industry, before trying to tell us what we should think about it. Either that or just get the heck out of the way.
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