I am sick and tired of all these betting commercials

The Game Room
1

I think legalized betting (and to a lesser degree, fantasy sports) are making sports worse. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re ruining it, but they’re making it worse. Commercials on ESPN and every regional sports network for FanDuel and Draft Kings, promising risk-free riches. And it’s all bullshit.

Hell, Nationals Park has even opened an onsite betting restaurant.

You know, if we’re going to have official betting partners of all the major sports leagues, I’m gonna go ahead and have to demand that Pete Rose be allowed into the Hall of Fame.

2

I think of them like all of the ads for homeopathic garbage (which are even more prevalent). I just ignore them, they aren’t going away no matter how much of a scam they are.

I’ve thought that for a long time now.

3

But, see, ol’ Pete might have tried too hard to win certain games.

And That. Is. Just. Wrong.

4

There is only one thing I want to know about all those betting ads:

What the hell is this “parlay” thing they keep nattering on about?

Answer that and we can shred and burn them all.

5

It’s multiple bets bundled into one. If you bet that the Yankees will beat the Red Sox AND that the Mets beat the Phillies, you increase your payout (and your chances of losing).

6

I hate the ads as well.

Our local paper’s site has given several of the betting groups their own column. So on any given day, the site’s “lastest” news" includes several of those columns talking about upcoming games and betting deals.

7

You can also place it as a teaser with a change to the odds. So in football, for example, changing the spread from what it is for a single game. There’s multiple bets and multiple ways to place a parlay, including the timing, but it’s inherently no different than a daily double or a pick 3 (or 4 or 5) at the horse track.

8

They’re better than the cryptocurrency investment commercials which are IMHO worse because everyone knows sports betting is for degenerates, but the crypto commercials try to make it out to be a safe and responsible way to provide for your (and your family’s) future.

9

A long-ago co-worker was a respectable investor, because he played the stock market. I was a degenerate who played the horses. When I pointed out to him that he was using past performances of stocks published in the Wall Street Journal and the Globe and Mail to inform his trades; while I used past performances in the Daily Racing Form to inform my wagers, he refused to see the difference. Although we were doing the same thing (betting on future outcomes based on past performance), he was respectable in his mind, while I was a degenerate.

10

What’s up with this, “If your bet looks like it’s losing, you can cancel it” stuff? That’s not how gambling works.

11

Sure it is - it’s called hedging. If I bet on the Cowboys to beat the Eagles, and at halftime the Eagles are up big, I can bet on the Eagles to minimize my losses. The betting apps just offer you a cut-bait option using those updated odds.

12

I’ve been slightly amused by (Ontario) radio ads that essentially say “Our company is not open for betting yet, but when we are…boy howdy will it be amazing!!”

13

I think it was the Blue Haired Lawyer from The Simpsons who said, “gambling is one of the most noble things a man can do. If he’s good at it.”

But yeah, I hate all the commercials and way betting talk has wormed into pre-game and intermission shows.

14

We’ve got those same ads, but also the California Indian tribes running ads against sports betting, as it may cut into their lucrative casino revenues…

Californians for Tribal Sovereignty and Safe Gaming has committed $100 million to their effort to stop commercial sportsbooks from entering the California gaming market.

15

This is so rife in Australia now, it’s becoming that the point of following sport, - indeed of sport at all - is the betting. You see men in their 20s and 30s comparing odds and boasting of their exotic bets. Teams are sponsored by betting companies, and the advertising on commercial TV is relentless.

Some players have been threatened because their missed or successful goal kick “blew my multi!” (same as the parlay mentioned above I believe).

16

“Californians for Tribal Sovereignty and Safe Gaming” are mainly two tribes that are sponsoring their own online gambling ballot proposition in California to compete against the FanDuel/DraftKings one. Note that one of the tribes owns the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Note that, as of right now, it appears that only one proposition that would authorize sports betting in general in California will make the November ballot, and it (a) would not allow online betting, and (b) would allow the state’s four main race tracks - Del Mar, Los Alamitos, Santa Anita, and Golden Gate Fields - to offer sports betting (not just horse racing) as well.

17

I don’t watch a single sports channel and I get flooded with these damn things. Hate ‘em.

Even more than the promotion of a stupid and destructive activity what offends me is the outrageously poor taste of these commercials and idiot celebrities literally shouting at me for minutes on end.

18

I agree that the ads are a problem. The betting I don’t know. The fantasy sports are fine, as it’s just a way to have a party. The problem is turning them into gambling, especially when it’s just on some website and not a social gathering.

19

The ones with Drew Brees are the ones I like the least. A betting pitchman ought to be someone that you would want to hang out with while trying to figure out if the Celtics are going to cover the spread over a couple of cold ones. Brees just seems a teensy bit upstanding. He seems more like the kind of guy who would be asking if you really want to make that bet while giving you a disapproving look over the top of his spectacles. Of course, I guess it doesn’t help that he’s saddled with a dumb slogan that would be a tough sell for anyone.