Sports and its gambling problem

Sports betting has boomed over the past few years. In this surge and normalization of wagering on sports, the sports world in the United States has changed forever.

This jump in recent history has affected athletics for everyone including journalists, players and the leagues themselves. Here is a brief timeline on how the industry got to this point.

Now more than ever, the betting industry is intertwined with the sports journalism world. This calls for some concerns ethically on journalistic involvement.

Sports reporters wield an incredible amount of power in the sports betting scene and any update or insight they post to social media can affect odds and betting lines.

NBA insider Shams Charania, who works for The Athletic, also is employed by FanDuel, one of the biggest online sportsbooks in the United States that has everything to gain from an uncertain betting market.

Ahead of last year's NBA Draft, Charania seemingly moved odds before the night of the draft with one tweet.

This tweet turned out to be nothing, as Charlotte went ahead and selected Brandon Miller with their pick, which was the consensus leading up to draft night. The tweet shifted odds and influenced people to gamble on something that turned out to be false.

This is not accusing Charania of any ill-intent, but it does bring up the clear conflict of interest that exists with his role as a journalist and his employment at FanDuel. People on social media had a lot to say about this specific situation.

Others defended Charania and thought people were maybe looking into things too deep.

People may be reading too much into the situation, but it does not take much digging to see the potential issue here and how potential market manipulation like this can turn into a serious problem in the future.

Selby Lopez, online sports editor for the Dallas Morning News said "I feel like this would create a conflict of interest... I guess there technically wouldn't be a reason to not trust the person with ties to sports betting, but I would feel a little skeptical about it. With so many betting scandals recently, it seems like there's always someone in those circles who stands to benefit from something. If there's any incentive for those journalists to profit off sports gambling, I would feel like their integrity would be compromised," he said.

In a survey asking about this issue, 86% of people said that if a sports journalist also works for a sports betting company, it would give them a reason to second guess the information they are putting out.

In that same survey, 80% of responses indicated that it is unethical for sports journalists to work for betting companies such as FanDuel.

Lastly, 84% of surveyors agreed that they would trust information and news more if it came from a sports journalist with no ties or affiliation to sport betting companies.

With the amount of partnerships that professional sports leagues have with sportsbooks, some point to a possible correlation between the promotion of sports gambling and the surge in sports betting controversies. Here is a list of the many partnerships prominent sports leagues have with sportsbooks.

Sportsbooks Across Professional Sports Leagues

In a survey addressing this issue, 82% of responses fielded believe there is a direct relationship between the recent rise in players getting caught for sports betting and the mainstream promotion and partnerships that professional sports leagues have with sports books.

"In general, sports betting has become more common, and also more legal in places where it wasn't previously. This has caused more players and leagues to partake in or promote gambling. However, I don't think the leagues promoting gambling is why players are taking part in it. Think that's more of a result of its increased availability/visibility," Lopez said.

In that same survey, 88% percent of surveyors also believe that it is hypocritical for these sports leagues to be affiliated with gambling services while at the same time preventing their players from gambling. 56% of people also said professional players should be allowed to bet on other sports, just not their own sport.

The reach of these sportsbooks go beyond just the leagues as well. The teams that represent these leagues also have their own partnerships. This video was taken pre-game at the local Texas Rangers game on April 24th. Betting has completely enveloped the world of sports.