On October 2, 2018, during American Sport in the 21st Century, we discussed the abuses and misuses of sports at the intercollegiate level, such as illegal recruiting, academic corruption, and the exploitation of athletes. By uplifting the law that bans wagering on a sports team, this could add to the list of another abuse, which is shaving off points or even throwing a game. During another class, we discussed why it is important to study sports, that sport is a large industry, and sports wagering is a huge business. Legally, sports wagering has produced $2.4 billion legally and more than $380 billion illegally. By appealing this law, the sports wagering side of business will be tremendously impacted. The numbers for legal wagering would increase as well in “both revenue and expenditure implications” (Smith, 2018, p. 27) for institutions. Overall, if sports betting becomes legal in all fifty states, there are high risks for more abuse in the NCAA and in other sports programs as well, where athletes could throw a game to make money. But there can also be a side to argue for legalizing sports wagering, because it will be increasing the monitoring of bets, it will have these activities in a controlled environment with rules, and it can increase revenue. Both sides are still voicing their opinions on what the government should do, and the NCAA is still trying to navigate through this hot topic.
Comments
Post a Comment