Throwing Sports Bettors Under the Bus

Yesterday, sports bettors got a rude awakening.  They weren’t just thrown under the proverbial bus.  They were mauled by a 16-wheeler of steel-belted radials encrusted with heavy snow chains.  Then, the bus cranked into reverse and the helpless collective known as the “American sports bettor” was flattened again.

In case you missed the news, sports gambling faced its own “vice squad-lite” version of so-called “Black Friday,” when authorities in New York went after several agents alleged to be involved in offshore sports gambling.  The net of dozens of arrests stretched all the way from the East Coast to Las Vegas, and even entangled Cantor’s head of sports wagering.

My reaction to yesterday’s news wasn’t so much one of surprise, but rather mild curiosity as to why it took law enforcement so long to clamp down on a blatantly conspicuous activity that’s unequivocally forbidden in most localities and states, as well as outlawed nationally by the infamous 1961 Wire Act.

A few years ago, I penned an editorial for Bluff magazine on the odd and uneasy connection between two gambling sectors — poker and sports wagering — when it comes to fighting for legalization.  Given the renewed timeliness of this issue, I thought it might be a good day to revisit this subject.