Im pretty sure Im in the minority on this board but its my opinion

[glenn__davis]

I haven't really thought through the morality piece enough, I do find the constant ads super annoying though.  Keep the ads to the commercials so I can ignore them, I don't want the "live odds" crap during the telecast.

[sportsfan8703]

Also, a good time to say that you can get Gunnar at +700 now for AL ROY.

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Yes, and I’m not trying to argue, but if you’re going to complain about gambling then you should complain about alcohol that is much more destructive, and just as heavily advertised during baseball. Roy’s post more so hit on the ethics of it during a game, but the other posts were talking about the overall “bad” things about gambling. 

Gambling doesn’t impair your ability to drive home from the park. Therefore, I don’t think bringing up alcohol is a false equivalency. Gambling and alcohol are the two most advertised things now during games. 

 

Everyone:  Gambling is a vice that shouldn't be advertised and marketed.

sportsfan8703:  BUT ALCOHOL IS WORSE WHY AREN'T WE TALKING ABOUT ALCOHOL

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, glenn__davis said:

I haven't really thought through the morality piece enough, I do find the constant ads super annoying though.  Keep the ads to the commercials so I can ignore them, I don't want the "live odds" crap during the telecast.

This is pretty much where I am.  I don't care about the morality of gambling, I just find all of the advertising tacky and gross.

In regards to Roy's OP, it definitely makes MLB's stance against Rose a little awkward...and I've long been a Rose supporter for the HoF.  While what Rose did and what MLB has tied itself to are separate things, they do fall under the big umbrella of gambling.  MLB isn't advertising or condoning that it's players and managers gamble on the games they play on, but they still condone gambling.  

Unfortunately, it's here to stay and I don't see FanDuel or whatever the other gambling sites are going away anytime soon.

[Sports Guy]

 As far as exposing it to kids, I can think of worse things people are trying to force on kids nowadays.

I’m fine with it overall. That said, if it was all of a sudden gone, I wouldn’t care about that either.  Really don’t pay much attention to it either way.

[Frobby]

I really hate the gambling ads and interventions during the broadcast.  It’s a shame baseball did this, but it was pretty inevitable and not even mostly their fault that it happened.  

As to Rose, I thought he richly deserved his lifetime ban and exclusion from the HOF (which is the BBWAA’s decision, not MLB’s).  It definitely feels a bit hypocritical now, but condoning outsiders betting on baseball isn’t the same as condoning insiders doing it.   I can’t bring myself to advocating changing the Rose ban.
 

[Moose Milligan]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I really hate the gambling ads and interventions during the broadcast.  It’s a shame baseball did this, but it was pretty inevitable and not even mostly their fault that it happened.  

As to Rose, I thought he richly deserved his lifetime ban and exclusion from the HOF (which is the BBWAA’s decision, not MLB’s).  It definitely feels a bit hypocritical now, but condoning outsiders betting on baseball isn’t the same as condoning insiders doing it.   I can’t bring myself to advocating changing the Rose ban.
 

How do you figure it wasn't their fault that it happened?  IIRC, the NFL was the first sports league to really embrace it...are you saying that it was a slippery slope and inevitable?

 

[Moshagge3]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Gambling doesn’t impair your ability to drive home from the park. 

If your car was repossessed I think it would impair your ability to drive home.

[Moose Milligan]

I will say this in regards to Rose...the fact that he broke baseball's "cardinal sin" has always been a bit hollow to me, considering the era that the "cardinal sin" rule came from...an era where a lot of ballplayers held down jobs in the offseason and could be swayed by throwing a game for a few thousand bucks.  Just because some crotchety wild haired old judge said it's the worst thing ever 100 years ago doesn't make it so. 

I'd argue that baseball's "cardinal sin" was keeping an entire race of people from playing the game for decades, thus keeping the overall product of MLB from being as good as it possibly could be.  Or the owners colluding in the mid 80s to keep salaries down, thus essentially "throwing" the game.  

[Es4M11]

I'm not against gambling per se, but the way the professional leagues have embraced it is very off-putting to me as a fan. The constant barrage of sports betting commercials is pretty tasteless on it's own, but the forced plugs from play-by-play and color announcers during the action of games is too far IMO. I'm nearly certain this will end in scandals of point shaving and fixed games.

[Sports Guy]

You guys do know why these leagues are embracing it right? 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

You guys do know why these leagues are embracing it right? 

So they can make money?

[Sports Guy]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

So they can make money?

We have a winner!

Now, take this a step further and really apply this to baseball. It brings eyeballs to the sport and, even more importantly, younger eye balls.

When you embrace the gambling and you bring in new rules that increases the pace of play, you get more viewers and more long term viewers.

This is all very important and really, your own personal feelings about it mean far less than growing the game and making it appealing to the younger generation.

Baseball has a marketing problem. It has an age problem. This may be something that can fix that..or at least help fix it.

Edited April 20, 2023 by Sports Guy

[blid]

Sports gambling has advanced so rapidly...not that long ago you needed to find a bookie, or there were only certain places you could place a bet, and now not only is it available right at your fingertips over your phone, but there are nonstop ads for gambling everywhere you turn, in the stadium, on TV, online. 

Did you all see that little dust up Bradley Beal got into with some fans?  They were screaming at him not because the Wizards lost a game but because they lost their bets.  Things could get ugly when some gambler is losing their house, their marriage, etc and blaming a player for it.

The casinos and apps must be taking a lot of people's money and ruining a lot of lives if they can afford all these ads and buy off all these state regulations.  The MGM casino at National Harbor was the most expensive political campaign in Maryland history, dwarfing the governor's race.  It's strange to me how wide gambling has gone with very little pushback.

[blid]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

 your own personal feelings about it mean far less than growing the game and making it appealing to the younger generation.

This is all well and good until you have a massive scandal that demolishes the integrity of the sport.  It's only a matter of time.