The SCOTUS decision to allow states to legalize sports betting has spurred executives and owners of sports leagues, who for years had railed against the evils of the practice, to now embrace it for one reason: they see easy $$$. The hypocrisy is stunning, but really not surprising.
One of the ways owners and league executives are seeking to grab money is to try to charge sports books an “integrity fee,” purportedly so they can police their games against game fixing. My question is–did they not care before, when legal books were limited to Nevada? Sports book are the first line of defense against fixed games, and they do a fine job of it. The leagues aren’t needed for this function.
The demands are pure greed. Legalized sports betting alone is a huge boon to sports leagues. Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, agrees. Following the Supreme Court decision, he said, “I think everyone who owns a top-four professional sports team just basically saw the value of their team double.”
Another way leagues are trying to increase their piece of the sports betting pie is by partnering with sports books in various ways. I don’t have a big issue with that, except that along with the extra profits should come the responsibility to make sure bettors get a fair shake in all aspects of the game, and that’s where I have a problem.
To illustrate my point, the Memorial golf tournament this year was won by Jon Rahm, who appeared to win by 5 strokes after a miraculous chip-in on the 16th hole in the final round. However, a super close-up tv shot showed that when he addressed the ball, it moved a tiny fraction. No one, including Rahm, could have seen with the naked eye, so it should not be penalized. Here’s the PGA Tour rule: “If the facts shown on the video could not reasonably have been seen with the naked eye, that video evidence will be disregarded even if it indicates a breach of the Rules.”
And yet the penalty was assessed.
Regardless of the interpretation of the rule, after assessing the penalty, Slugger White, the head rules official, said that if it had been a one-shot lead so the penalty would have affected the winner, it might have been a different story. And therein lies the rub. To say the ruling might have been different under different circumstances shows ignorance of the betting environment.
The PGA Tour has fully embraced, and will profit from sports betting, as described in this story.
If it wants to profit from sports betting, the PGA Tour at least needs to fully understand how it works. While the questionable penalty didn’t affect the winner, it was a deciding factor in a lot of different bets. The way the Tour acted, I don’t think its representatives have any idea that people are betting on anything but the outright winner. Personally, I had Rahm to win by 4 or more strokes, so the penalty turned a winner into a loser for me. A lot of bettors suffered the same fate for an array of different kinds of bets that were affected by the penalty. Did the ruling that cost some bettors their wagers conversely change some losers into winners? Absolutely, but that’s not the point. It goes back to that word integrity. Instead of a draconian, unnecessary fee on sports books, the leagues should focus on the integrity of all aspects of their games and events so the people betting on them get a fair shake. That starts with employing people who understand the business so these kinds of things don’t happen without proper consideration.
Never miss another post
That was a terrible decision to penalize Rahm, it will give pause to any player to ground their club in deep rough before you hit your shot… Any avid golfer will tell you that in order to hit the kind of shot Rahm did you have to feel the bounce (bottom) of your wedge, even more so in the kind of deep rough tour players have to deal with. The ball did not move, it slightly oscillated, which happens all the time in ways the naked eye can not see. Its not at all fair to Rahm to take the luster away from what was a super clutch shot at a pivotal moment. And this author is succinct, the PGA Tour is absolutely benefiting for the added attention it is getting during the pandemic because it happens to be a safe game to play. the Tour needs to embrace its newfound fame and not spit in the eye of bettors with ridiculous rulings. Recently the game of golfs ruling bodies made adjustments to the rules that speed up play and make common sense, this ruling did neither… Golf was a dying sport before the pandemic, now its had some life injected into it, go to any driving range and you will see young people playing, which is refreshing, but it has made getting tee times way more difficult. This is golfs first moment in the sun since Tiger Woods came along, it should not be squandered by nitpicking idiocy that offends most people…
Well written by Blair and well responded to by mike.
Good article. With the Fernando Tatis Jr story this week bringing up the question of “unwritten rules” in sports, what are your thoughts?
We’ve all been on both sides of bad beats, for example with NBA teams not shooting when in the final possession with the game won, points that might not affect the Win / Loss result but can definitely affect the Handicaps / Totals outcomes?
I haven’t followed the Tatis story. What happened?
Tatis had the nerve to hit a grand slam on a 3-0 count. His manager originally said that Tatis either didn’t see or ignored a take sign, but later seemed to be more supportive of Tatis. Generally, the players who’ve spoken up seem to have Tatis’ back.
In-stream gamblers who know about that unwritten rule were likely burned on the play.
“Unwritten rules” dont fly anymore in baseball, in the good ole days if you showboated after a home run swing the very next time you stepped up to the plate you got pegged… Tatis did nothing wrong, his personal interests are directly tied to his stats, that young man exudes greatness, he has all the tools including charisma… In a sixty game baseball season there is no room for sitting down, with way less time to impress people, the players have to focus on every single time the spotlight is on them. A walk gives up one base, a home run is four, a very good case can be made to never give Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, or Tatis anything to hit in that situation, even a three and zero count. There will always be complainers, sports radio makes millions of dollars on gossip and manufactured conflict, its the times we live in…
I’m not sure exactly what happened with this Tatis guy, but the way I’m reading it, it’s like getting a royal flush in VP from making a horribly incorrect play and condoning it.
I address this in my upcoming book:
“Anyone experienced in sports betting knows that football coaches sometimes kneel out a game and sometimes they go for the unneeded score. Likewise with a basketball coach choosing to foul at the end of a game or let it go, or a player going for a needless score. And so on. We’ve seen it countless times, generally don’t suspect foul play, and have learned to live with it.
The problem comes with neophyte bettors who have never been faced with situations like these that affected their wallets. They’ll scream “Fix!” and might swear off betting. If enough of an uproar, it might give the industry an unearned bad name. I don’t know what the solution is, perhaps there isn’t one, but this dynamic should at least be addressed.”
To take it a step further, I’d be flabbergasted if coaches and players don’t know the pointspreads. Do these coaches, especially in college sports, realize their boosters likely have bets on the games and these coaches, beloved as they may be, know they’ll be loved more if they cover the spread for boosters? Of course. I’m not saying they all act on it, but…
Is the tendency of some coaches to run up scores reflected in the lines? I’d say they are, especially with coaches with that reputation.
Yes indeed, some coaches like Belichick run up scores, its up to the bettor to figure that out. If you bet on sports, you are subject to the situational awareness of the team you just bet on, it can get real ugly… At least ten years ago I placed a future book bet on the Chargers to win the Super Bowl, future book bets are the dumbest bets to make, but they are fun and sometimes give you months of extended action. The Chargers played that season as the best team in the league, but in the first playoff game it was super close, they were up by three or so in the final minute and a Charger defender intercepted a pass, and began to run it back… I screamed at the television for that idiot to sit the heck down, the game would have been over, defenders do not practice ball security, and of course he got blindsided, fumbled, the other team recovered and scored a touchdown to destroy my dreams… The opposite of that is Todd Gurley on purpose sitting down and not scoring a touchdown when he was in the clear. Last year Tom Brady refused to kneel down and lose rushing yards because his career total was at a thousand yards, he could have got a teammate hurt, it was just freaky… Us bettors need thick skin, even when we nail it we sometimes get our crap handed to us…