How Sports Betting/Gambling Ruins Sports Fundamentals

With sports betting becoming more and more popular worldwide, it slowly ruins the integrity of what makes sports fun - as a consumer, and as a team owner.

Why it matters

Going to a sporting event, whether it be with friends or family, should be a fun activity. Sure, some parts may be stress-inducing, but that all comes from the team. You're worried if your team is going to win, if your team is going to score that last minute goal. I believe if you're only worried about one singular player, a lot of the time on a team you don't even like, scoring or not scoring a goal - you don't truly understand what makes sports fun.

Watching sports is all about grouping up with your friends and family, cheering on everybody on your favorite sports club. As somebody that has never been interested in sports gambling, going to an event and having that one friend in the group stressing out over one singular player gets tiring. Every team sport is just that: a team sport. Sometimes, it takes just that one person in the friend group who's betting on a player to bring down the whole vibe.

But what about if the person is betting on the team? Well, that just ruins the authentic feeling of uncertainty that comes with that team maybe winning or maybe losing. You can almost always tell when somebody is actually watching the game for their team or watching the game to get some quick cash. It all feels so disingenuous - like that person only sees their team's players as dollar signs.

A Sports Owner Perspective

As a sports owner, you should always have a worry in the back of your mind of sports betters. There have been countless numbers of times in which players on their own teams will bet against themselves - actively trying to lose just to get more money. Greed is in human nature, but should it really matter when you're already getting paid well? Some athletes get paid millions of dollars, with some superstars being marketed upwards of 1 billion dollars (such as Kylian Mbappe getting offered $1B by a Saudi Arabian league).

When you own a sporting team, winning games is not the only thing on your mind. Being the owner of a 17-0 American Football team is nice, yes, but you have to worry about loads of other factors: a major one being player integrity. If your players are involved in potentially illegal activities that slow down your team's progress as a whole, of course you would want to send them off to another team or outright get him banned from the league. If they should be behind bars for what they're doing to your sports team, there's no questioning over getting them kicked from your organization.

It's not all bad, though

Sometimes, although as stated earlier it can be illegal, players do bet on their teams to win, or themselves to score a certain amount Is it morally questionable? Without a doubt. Can it boost their motivation to perform? Well, let's talk about that.

If you go into a game regularly, of course you're going to want to win. You're going to, or at least should if you have integrity, give 100% every game. Giving yourself even more of a motivation booster, such as betting on yourself to win, should do nothing but make you try even harder.

There are still countless legal worries, along with moral questions you have to think about, though.

In conclusion

Sports betting, as a fan or even a team player, is almost always going to have a negative effect. If not on yourself, then on your friends and family around you. To some it's a quick way of getting some money; to some it's unadmirable and makes them look like a worse person overall.