when Dr. Christopher Hunt first began working at the University of Sydney Gambling Treatment Clinic in Australia, he recalls seeing "one or two" troubled sports bettors every six months.Today, after what he calls the "gamblization" of sports in Australia, Hunt says sports bettors make up one-third of the clinic's patients.
If sports betting is legalized, will the United States be headed for a future with increased addiction potentially spurned by a rampant barrage of gambling advertising? Proponents point to the expected economic benefits and increased game-integrity protection of legalization. Opponents say those perceived pluses won't outweigh the pitfalls.
"For the two-thirds-plus of Americans who rarely or never engage in commercial gambling, the change will be negative," said Michael K. Fagan, a former federal prosecutor and current adjunct professor at Washington University School of Law.
"Anyone fairly and comprehensively evaluating the unbiased, independent academic, health-care and economic evidence readily finds that it weighs in favor of continuing prohibitions on commercial sports gambling."
Australia, a country which legalized sports betting around the turn of the century, is a prime example of what America wants to avoid.
Widespread legalization of online sports betting arrived in Australia in 2001, but even in a culture with a longtime acceptance of gambling as a form of entertainment, it didn't explode onto the market.
"All of a sudden, it was like you couldn't talk about sports without making reference to what the odds were. It was what we came to call the 'gamblization' of sport."
Dr. Christopher Hunt, a clinical psychologist at the University of Sydney Gambling Treatment Clinic
In the beginning, mom-and-pop bookmakers competed against the government-owned sportsbook TAB. Teams entered standard sponsorship deals with betting operators, and sports commentators casually began referencing odds during broadcasts.
Overall, though, the impact of legalization was minimal and sports betting was looked at as a niche product with niche problems. But trouble loomed.
Around 2009, Australians began to notice a dramatic shift in the atmosphere surrounding sports and how the games were presented by the media.
International bookmaking companies, with much larger marketing budgets, began arriving on the scene. Soon, advertising for betting could be found near schools and on public transportation.
The gambling talk during game broadcasts went from subtle to constant, with commercials from sportsbooks bleeding into the media coverage. At one point, one of Australia's biggest bookies was a regular in the broadcast booth.
"All of a sudden, it was like you couldn't talk about sports without making reference to what the odds were, what the prices were, whether they thought this bet was value or this bet was value," said Hunt, a clinical psychologist.
"It was what we came to call the 'gamblization' of sport."
Comments