North Carolina managed to legalize sports betting just as the March Madness basketball tournaments began. Sports betting in North Carolina became legal on March 11. If you watch sports, I’m sure you saw all the ads letting folks know that on March 11 they could begin placing their bets on their favorite teams and anything else they could think of. It was estimated that $2.7 billion would be wagered on the basketball tournaments this year.
Time will tell if this was a smart move. But this is one of those things where once the horse is out of the barn it might be too difficult to get him back in. Some states that legalized sports gambling earlier are already questioning whether it was a wise decision.
In 2018, a Supreme Court decision enabled states to legalize sports betting. Since that time, 38 states and Washington, D.C. have enacted gambling. After years of keeping their distance from sports betting, sports leagues have entered into agreements with sports bookings. Sports gambling is another way of adding revenues to the coffers. That’s always an enticing proposition.
Teams have now formed partnerships with casinos and are building arenas next to them. Sports analysts announcing the games, never would touch the holy grail of betting, now they constantly remind viewers and listeners of wagering information during the game broadcasts.
Caitlin Clark, the outstanding female basketball player from Iowa, set a record as the highest scorer in college basketball history during the tournament. She broke the record formerly held by “Pistol” Pete Maravich and had stood for fifty years. Obviously, she is a phenomenal player. But she scored six points fewer than bettors expected and cost a lot of gamblers a lot of money.
Her team won the national championship and she set an all-time record. That’s an outstanding accomplishment by any standards but many fans were saying, “she blew it.”
This new betting phenomenon can be very precise. One can bet on how many points or rebounds each particular player will make in each half or quarter. Bets can be made on how many assists will be made by a given player. You might even cast a bet on what shenanigans will happen during the National Anthem. There is no end to what one might place bets on.
Players are now being exposed to angry fans yelling from the stands about how much money a particular player may have cost. While this may be extra dollars flowing into the coffers of the state and the teams, that money has come with threats of the integrity of sports and the welfare of the players.
Charlie Baker, the president of the N.C.A.A., wants to see some bets banned to protect the integrity of the game. “The N.C.A.A. is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student athletes and the integrity of the game – issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done.”
North Carolina basketball player, Armando Bacot, spoke to reporters after the team’s second round game. This was also the most watched game through the first two rounds. Bacot said he received over 100 angry messages from people who bet on his having more rebounds than he had.
I love it when college athletes have outstanding careers like Caitlin Clark is having. She has done more for women’s college basketball than anything that has ever happened. Clark received the second most bets of any player, male or female. Viewership was up substantially this year over prior years for the women’s tournament. She deserves to be celebrated and honored and not yelled at because someone didn’t place the right bet on how many points or rebounds she would have in a game.
This could be one of the biggest mistakes we’ve ever made in college sports. Time will tell.
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Joyce Krawiec serves in the North Carolina Senate. She represents Davie County and Forsyth County, NC. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative.