One of the beautiful things about sports is that they allow us to see the absolute best of humanity, and not just the physical aspect. From sports, we’ve witnessed great feats of courage, resilience, honor, and brotherhood. Fantastic displays of what the human spirit is capable of, exemplifying the extremes of resolve and fortitude.
Legendary boxer Julio Cesar Chavez entering the last round battered and thoroughly behind on the scorecards only to knock Meldrick Taylor out with barely two seconds to spare in the fight.
Tom Brady leading the Patriots to another Super Bowl victory after being down 28-3 midway through the third quarter against the Falcons.
In their first boxing match, Erik Morales was dominating Manny Pacquiao and cruising to an easy decision victory. Inexplicably, he decided to risk it all to turn the final round into a slugfest by turning southpaw and giving Pacquiao the tactical advantage, effectively daring Pacquiao to knock him out. Jim Lampley, one of the commentators of the night said it best: “Guys there’s nothing like boxing and there are no athletes like fighters. There’s nowhere else in sport you’ll find greater passion, greater intensity, greater courage, greater commitment, greater sheer guts than what these two guys are showing here. This is boxing at its best.”
Most recently, Clayton Kershaw, the old lion at the very end of his career, came in during extra innings in Game 3 of the World Series with the bases loaded and got the final, crucial out of the inning.
On the flip side, being a human endeavor, you’ll also see some of the worst behavior in sports. Every major sports league in America is seeing instances of players and coaches involved in gambling controversy.
Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups were arrested last month for luring others to rigged card games and tipping associates with non-public information respectively.
UFC fighter Isaac Dulgarian was fired after the promotion was alerted of suspicious betting around a recent fight of his in which he was submitted in the first round.
Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were recently indicted for rigging pitches for bettors.
These controversies have led many to lament the legalization of sports gambling and criticize how thoroughly sports leagues have embraced and partnered with betting companies. Many are claiming that sports betting, and particularly prop bets, are “ruining sports“. Prop bets are wagers on specific events happening during a game.
For example, there are prop bets on whether the quarterback will throw an interception during the third quarter, or how many balls a pitcher will throw during a game. Critics point out that these are the sorts of betting outcomes that are within the powers of individual players to bring about, thereby making them easier to rig and attractive for bad actors. Stating this alone can make the problem seem worse than it is.
Even though prop bets are easier for players to rig and more attractive for potential coconspirators, gambling patterns are closely scrutinized and the gambling companies set betting lines corresponding to the likelihood of the events happening. When a bettor wages a significant amount of money on an unlikely event (to maximize payout), this is flagged for evaluation. Large prop bets on unlikely outcomes that are easily influenced by individual players receive special attention from betting monitoring services employed by sports leagues.
The point here is that in order to make the wager worthwhile, the event wagered on would have to be unlikely and the wagered amount would have to be substantial, both of which make the bet more likely to garner attention from betting monitoring services. Making a lot of smaller bets on the same rigged outcome would likewise attract attention.
Despite concerns that the massive revenue brought in by prop bets for sports books would disincentivize them from taking steps to minimize their exploitability, the MLB announced that its betting partners would limit the amount that could be wagered on individual pitch prop bets to $200.
Both sports leagues and gambling companies have critical incentives to preserve the appearance of fairness in both sport and gambling, which is why players associated with gambling cause such controversies.
What legalizing sports betting has done is allowed sports gambling to take place within a legitimate forum where it can be scrutinized and where everyone’s knee caps are safe even after the worst losses.
I personally do not enjoy gambling. I find that when I’m concerned about whether some running back is going to gain enough yards for a bet to hit, it distracts excessively from all the things that make sports great. Clearly, given how popular sports betting has become, others use it to enhance the experience.
As far as gambling encouraging rigging, there’s no need to outlaw prop betting or sports gambling in general – the government can sit this one out. Sports leagues and gambling companies both have a strong interest in preserving the integrity of their products and both are already taking meaningful steps toward addressing this problem.
Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. He is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Rochester. You can reach him at rafaelperezocregister@gmail.com.