Betting on sports: good or bad? Maybe both

In May, the United States Supreme Court struck down the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act giving individual states the right to legalize gambling on sports.

Almost immediately many people across Alabama began wondering if Alabama would be one of the states to legalize it. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall smothered out those thoughts pretty quickly.

“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision is not about whether sports gambling should be legal, but whether states should have the right to decide that question for themselves,” Marshall said in a statement. “In Alabama, sports gambling is already against the law and the court ruling does not alter that fact.”

Still, there are a lot of people in Alabama that want to see it legalized, and there are certainly pros and cons to pushing for it.

First, Alabamians are already gambling on sports. That’s just a fact, whether they are going to neighboring states or just betting illegally or doing it online. It’s happening.

Alabama doesn’t have any laws regarding online sports betting, so people can and already do use offshore online bookies legally. Now, with a number of states legalizing sports betting it will become easier to use online bookies in neighboring states, too.

Gambling is something the State of Alabama, or at least its leaders, have been steadfastly against my entire life and not just sports betting, but regardless of the reasoning, there are some very real concerns for the legalization of sports betting.

Many detractors point to the possible credibility of any sport being lost with wholesale legalization of sports betting. The NFL and NBA both are pushing for the United States Congress to pass legislation outlining laws for gambling on sports and punishment for those caught attempting to tamper with a sporting event.

Point-shaving is nowhere near as prevalent as it was in the days of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal or even the 1970s Boston College point shaving scandal, but you can rest assured the first time an All-Pro wide receiver drops an easy touchdown pass, a field goal kicker misses a chip-shot game-winner, a referee makes a bad call or a star basketball player has an unusually bad game, the conspiracy theorists will come running.

There is already plenty of game fixing conspiracies perverting the internet and I can imagine the legalization of sports betting is just going to make those more prominent.

Still, it will be hard to get away with fixing a game or even points shaving in the modern era of social media, the 24/7 news cycle and the huge money coaches and players are already making. Also, economically no one can argue against the benefits that sports betting generates.

New Jersey expects to generate more than $13 million in tax revenue from sports betting between July 1 and January 2019 alone. According to NJ.com, some experts even expect that number could grow to between $50 and $100 million for the year.

For a state like Alabama, which is annually in panic mode over not having enough money, how long can you just ignore the amount of money that gambling, not just sports betting, can generate for the state?

I personally don’t gamble and don’t plan to whether it’s legal here or not, and I also don’t like the thought of the possibility big money gamblers or bookies attempting to influence games illegally.

I do think, however, the pros of the money that could be generated for the state and its many needs far outweigh the cons in this situation.

Also, I personally think every person in this state should have the right to decide whether or not they should gamble. I’m pretty confident that the majority of Alabamians feel that way, too.