Gambling is ruining sports. . .

[Aesa]

. . for me. This isn't a rant about gambling being evil or something - what other people do with their money is their business. My gripe is more about the oversaturation. I think every commercial break last night during the Blues game had at least one ad for a gambling site. Every sports radio station seems to focus a good portion of time on either shilling for some gambling operation or focus segments on parlays / over-under / betting lines / etc.

If that's where teams like the Blues and other mid market radio stations need to go to drive revenue, I get it. And maybe that revenue is more important than losing a viewer like me. But man, it's smothering. You know its bad when I'm hoping for a Dirt Cheap commercial during a Blues game rather than seeing Kevin Hart jump on his couch for the 87th time in 2 hours.

Not to overstate the obvious, but the Blues games are on FanDuel network. It’s kind of already baked in.

If you check out the boards at home, without the CGI, you will notice a different betting app being prominently displayed. It isn't FanDuel.

Which is probably why they CGI over it. Blues sell the space to whoever. I’m just wondering what the OP expected given where the games are broadcast.
Another factor now is with the sports betting in Missouri kicking in on Dec 1, all these companies are going all out to attract customers.

Nah, CGI on the boards has been in use for years but if you pay attention, you will NOT see a FanDuel ad in the CGI either.

[FunSeeker]

Interesting topic. Different views for different viewers. My take, there have always been some type of commericals on, whether I like them or not. It pays the bills for sports teams, owners, leagues, etc. As much as I wish they didnt play the same commercial over and over, I could care less if it was for gambling or for church or for anybody promoting anything. Commericals have always been a necessary evil and take viewers away from what they came to view. We just have to wait until its over, no matter what it is. To me there are a lot worse things than advertising gambling in the commercials we are all fed. I could make a list of many things more annyoying to have to wait through to see what I actually came to watch.

[SameOldBlues]

More importantly, gambling is ruining lives in alot of cases.

As a former alcoholic with 15 years of sobriety this Christmas, I’ll never understand the addiction to gambling. It seems like such a wasted empty addiction cause you dont get anything tangible out of it that I can tell. With drugs and alcohol, at least you’re getting something that alters your feelings and helps ya mask whatever problem you’re trying to solve to cope with, and I just dont see how gambling does that in any fashion.

Anyone have any experience with gambling, or knowledge about the addiction of it and can help me understand the allure to it?

My youngest brother is a multi millionaire who owns a large acoustical ceiling business, and he’s a hardcore gambler who’s thrown away so much money gambling that it’d make ya nauseous if it was one of your family members, and even he cant explain the high of it to me.

Dont get me wrong, all addictions are obviously terrible, and Im not trying to to rank them or anything approaching insidious, Ive just always been amazed by the attraction to it and wish I understood it better. Id be enraged if I went gambling just once and lost hundreds or thousands of dollars, much less doing it on a regular basis.

I believe it has to do with the chase.

Probably among folks who have been highly competitive in one endeavor or another and see gambling as an outlet for that.

As one who did this on a smaller scale many years ago I finally stopped when the gambling was taking the joy of just watching sports as a recreation away from me win or lose.

Haven't missed betting on sports at all for the last 30-odd years.

OK, the chase makes a lot of sense and parallels other addictions, so in that regard, I can relate.

[aslord]

. . for me. This isn't a rant about gambling being evil or something - what other people do with their money is their business. My gripe is more about the oversaturation. I think every commercial break last night during the Blues game had at least one ad for a gambling site. Every sports radio station seems to focus a good portion of time on either shilling for some gambling operation or focus segments on parlays / over-under / betting lines / etc.

If that's where teams like the Blues and other mid market radio stations need to go to drive revenue, I get it. And maybe that revenue is more important than losing a viewer like me. But man, it's smothering. You know its bad when I'm hoping for a Dirt Cheap commercial during a Blues game rather than seeing Kevin Hart jump on his couch for the 87th time in 2 hours.

Not to overstate the obvious, but the Blues games are on FanDuel network. It’s kind of already baked in.

exactly. You can't complain about gambling ads while watching a gambling sponsored channel

[SameOldBlues]

More importantly, gambling is ruining lives in alot of cases.

As a former alcoholic with 15 years of sobriety this Christmas, I’ll never understand the addiction to gambling. It seems like such a wasted empty addiction cause you dont get anything tangible out of it that I can tell. With drugs and alcohol, at least you’re getting something that alters your feelings and helps ya mask whatever problem you’re trying to solve to cope with, and I just dont see how gambling does that in any fashion.

Anyone have any experience with gambling, or knowledge about the addiction of it and can help me understand the allure to it?

My youngest brother is a multi millionaire who owns a large acoustical ceiling business, and he’s a hardcore gambler who’s thrown away so much money gambling that it’d make ya nauseous if it was one of your family members, and even he cant explain the high of it to me.

Dont get me wrong, all addictions are obviously terrible, and Im not trying to to rank them or anything approaching insidious, Ive just always been amazed by the attraction to it and wish I understood it better. Id be enraged if I went gambling just once and lost hundreds or thousands of dollars, much less doing it on a regular basis.

Congratulations on your sobriety,

From what I gather, the gamblers get a very big high. Not from winning and losing- that seems to be incidental. They experience the high as the wager hangs in the balance, while the game is being played and when the roulette wheel is spinning.
My guess is they feel a danger/risk/thrill flood of good and positive chemicals.

I appreciate it, my friend, in retrospect after rereading my post, I swear I wasn’t seeking acknowledgment for my sobriety or anything, but that was cool of you to say

[netboy65]

. . for me. This isn't a rant about gambling being evil or something - what other people do with their money is their business. My gripe is more about the oversaturation. I think every commercial break last night during the Blues game had at least one ad for a gambling site. Every sports radio station seems to focus a good portion of time on either shilling for some gambling operation or focus segments on parlays / over-under / betting lines / etc.

If that's where teams like the Blues and other mid market radio stations need to go to drive revenue, I get it. And maybe that revenue is more important than losing a viewer like me. But man, it's smothering. You know its bad when I'm hoping for a Dirt Cheap commercial during a Blues game rather than seeing Kevin Hart jump on his couch for the 87th time in 2 hours.

Not to overstate the obvious, but the Blues games are on FanDuel network. It’s kind of already baked in.

If you check out the boards at home, without the CGI, you will notice a different betting app being prominently displayed. It isn't FanDuel.

Which is probably why they CGI over it. Blues sell the space to whoever. I’m just wondering what the OP expected given where the games are broadcast.
Another factor now is with the sports betting in Missouri kicking in on Dec 1, all these companies are going all out to attract customers.

I had no expectations of anything, to be frank. I didn't stop watching the NFL when the Rams left town, I stopped watching years earlier when there were commercial breaks nonstop and during every one of those breaks I had Dennis Leary telling me how Ford tough everything was. NFL games started to feel more like a 3 hour long Ford commercial with football in-between.

I fully understand advertisers are going to advertise, TV stations are going to sell time to make money, and the Blues are going to try to capitalize off of it. My post was a lament about being beaten over the head by it. I have no expectation that anything is going to change - this is a "man yells at cloud" post. (I'm not an old man yet).

Just so you know, I wasn’t coming at you. For better or worse this is our world now! 18-34 yr old males being especially targeted

[the miracle]

. . for me. This isn't a rant about gambling being evil or something - what other people do with their money is their business. My gripe is more about the oversaturation. I think every commercial break last night during the Blues game had at least one ad for a gambling site. Every sports radio station seems to focus a good portion of time on either shilling for some gambling operation or focus segments on parlays / over-under / betting lines / etc.

If that's where teams like the Blues and other mid market radio stations need to go to drive revenue, I get it. And maybe that revenue is more important than losing a viewer like me. But man, it's smothering. You know its bad when I'm hoping for a Dirt Cheap commercial during a Blues game rather than seeing Kevin Hart jump on his couch for the 87th time in 2 hours.

Not to overstate the obvious, but the Blues games are on FanDuel network. It’s kind of already baked in.

If you check out the boards at home, without the CGI, you will notice a different betting app being prominently displayed. It isn't FanDuel.

Which is probably why they CGI over it. Blues sell the space to whoever. I’m just wondering what the OP expected given where the games are broadcast.
Another factor now is with the sports betting in Missouri kicking in on Dec 1, all these companies are going all out to attract customers.

I had no expectations of anything, to be frank. I didn't stop watching the NFL when the Rams left town, I stopped watching years earlier when there were commercial breaks nonstop and during every one of those breaks I had Dennis Leary telling me how Ford tough everything was. NFL games started to feel more like a 3 hour long Ford commercial with football in-between.

I fully understand advertisers are going to advertise, TV stations are going to sell time to make money, and the Blues are going to try to capitalize off of it. My post was a lament about being beaten over the head by it. I have no expectation that anything is going to change - this is a "man yells at cloud" post. (I'm not an old man yet).

Just so you know, I wasn’t coming at you. For better or worse this is our world now! 18-34 yr old males being especially targeted

I appreciate you saying so, and I totally didn't take it that way. Just thought some additional background would explain my rationale. I agree, like it or not, this is where we are.

[St. Charles Bronson]

I do think that it is having a negative impact on sports, and since the whole thing lies at the intersection of "greed" and "internet" it's going to get really ugly at some point.

As a fan, I'm sick of the non-stop ads and the way it's crept into the mainstream discussion about sports. As a human being, I'm bummed out by another reminder that if something can be monetized it will be. As a high school teacher, I'm distressed by how prevalent it is amongst students.

[the miracle]

I do think that it is having a negative impact on sports, and since the whole thing lies at the intersection of "greed" and "internet" it's going to get really ugly at some point.

As a fan, I'm sick of the non-stop ads and the way it's crept into the mainstream discussion about sports. As a human being, I'm bummed out by another reminder that if something can be monetized it will be. As a high school teacher, I'm distressed by how prevalent it is amongst students.

Not gonna lie - my stomach turned when I read your last sentence.

[St. Charles Bronson]

I do think that it is having a negative impact on sports, and since the whole thing lies at the intersection of "greed" and "internet" it's going to get really ugly at some point.

As a fan, I'm sick of the non-stop ads and the way it's crept into the mainstream discussion about sports. As a human being, I'm bummed out by another reminder that if something can be monetized it will be. As a high school teacher, I'm distressed by how prevalent it is amongst students.

Not gonna lie - my stomach turned when I read your last sentence.

Yeah...it's probably not "top five" on the list of things to worry about with teenagers, but it is something that I had never seen prior to a year or so ago.

[Blues Dave]

I care about all types of addictions and wish there was a magic pill to help folks, but addiction is not something we get to vote on. Help comes in many different ways, and sometime it's hard to find the kind of help a seriously troubled person needs. I tried to help one of my lifetime best friends with an alcohol addiction. Even though I know he loved me like a brother, and I tried everything in my power, he is gone now, and there were many more folks involved other than myself. And I had profession related training. Obviously, you can try anything at your disposal but it's not always what it takes or how much love that is involved. I still grieve to this day, and that was over 30 years ago.

As far as commercials. My wife and I phase them out. We use the mute button, fast forward, walk out of the room, or simply ignore them. Regardless, they must work because they still use them. A lot. Saying all this, I drink, gamble on machines in bars, and have fun doing it. I've just been fortunate in life that I can stop and walk away whenever I want to. I hope anyone having addiction problems breaks free and gains full control of their own lives, in order to live the life and be the person they want to be.

[11WSChamps]

Just DVR the games and FF through the commercials, Bernie and Strickland.

Works every time.

[George Zipp]

More importantly, gambling is ruining lives in alot of cases.

As a former alcoholic with 15 years of sobriety this Christmas, I’ll never understand the addiction to gambling. It seems like such a wasted empty addiction cause you dont get anything tangible out of it that I can tell. With drugs and alcohol, at least you’re getting something that alters your feelings and helps ya mask whatever problem you’re trying to solve to cope with, and I just dont see how gambling does that in any fashion.

Anyone have any experience with gambling, or knowledge about the addiction of it and can help me understand the allure to it?

My youngest brother is a multi millionaire who owns a large acoustical ceiling business, and he’s a hardcore gambler who’s thrown away so much money gambling that it’d make ya nauseous if it was one of your family members, and even he cant explain the high of it to me.

Dont get me wrong, all addictions are obviously terrible, and Im not trying to to rank them or anything approaching insidious, Ive just always been amazed by the attraction to it and wish I understood it better. Id be enraged if I went gambling just once and lost hundreds or thousands of dollars, much less doing it on a regular basis.

Interesting take. I've gambled off and on my entire adult life. Never once high enough stakes to impact my life or my family life and not at all an addiction. I have the opposite view. I never understood the addiction to booze. I personally can't stand the taste of anything other than wine. Who in their right mind wants to drink to oblivion, do things they don't remember, hurl in the back of an uber (or worse, get a DUI) and then spend the next 27 hours hungover?

As for the allure of gambling, you clearly have never been at a craps table at the Bellagio where someone held the dice for 45 minutes. You've never won (or lost) a parlay or sports bet because of a pitchy pitchy woo woo play or a 61 yd FG that impacts the spread, or the total or both. You've never had an NCAA tourney bet win (or lose) when some jackwagon hits a meaningless 35 foot three at the buzzer. Never flopped quads late in a poker tourney when another player also makes a hand, or better, tries to run a bluff on you while you hold quads. There is a rush that comes from gambling that I suspect is similar to the rush that comes from having 9 shots of Jack in an hour.

And yes, all addictions are indeed terrible.

[AL57]

More importantly, gambling is ruining lives in alot of cases.

As a former alcoholic with 15 years of sobriety this Christmas, I’ll never understand the addiction to gambling. It seems like such a wasted empty addiction cause you dont get anything tangible out of it that I can tell. With drugs and alcohol, at least you’re getting something that alters your feelings and helps ya mask whatever problem you’re trying to solve to cope with, and I just dont see how gambling does that in any fashion.

Anyone have any experience with gambling, or knowledge about the addiction of it and can help me understand the allure to it?

My youngest brother is a multi millionaire who owns a large acoustical ceiling business, and he’s a hardcore gambler who’s thrown away so much money gambling that it’d make ya nauseous if it was one of your family members, and even he cant explain the high of it to me.

Dont get me wrong, all addictions are obviously terrible, and Im not trying to to rank them or anything approaching insidious, Ive just always been amazed by the attraction to it and wish I understood it better. Id be enraged if I went gambling just once and lost hundreds or thousands of dollars, much less doing it on a regular basis.

Congratulations on your sobriety,

From what I gather, the gamblers get a very big high. Not from winning and losing- that seems to be incidental. They experience the high as the wager hangs in the balance, while the game is being played and when the roulette wheel is spinning.
My guess is they feel a danger/risk/thrill flood of good and positive chemicals.
[/quote

You summed it up well, Harry....

[SameOldBlues]

More importantly, gambling is ruining lives in alot of cases.

As a former alcoholic with 15 years of sobriety this Christmas, I’ll never understand the addiction to gambling. It seems like such a wasted empty addiction cause you dont get anything tangible out of it that I can tell. With drugs and alcohol, at least you’re getting something that alters your feelings and helps ya mask whatever problem you’re trying to solve to cope with, and I just dont see how gambling does that in any fashion.

Anyone have any experience with gambling, or knowledge about the addiction of it and can help me understand the allure to it?

My youngest brother is a multi millionaire who owns a large acoustical ceiling business, and he’s a hardcore gambler who’s thrown away so much money gambling that it’d make ya nauseous if it was one of your family members, and even he cant explain the high of it to me.

Dont get me wrong, all addictions are obviously terrible, and Im not trying to to rank them or anything approaching insidious, Ive just always been amazed by the attraction to it and wish I understood it better. Id be enraged if I went gambling just once and lost hundreds or thousands of dollars, much less doing it on a regular basis.

Interesting take. I've gambled off and on my entire adult life. Never once high enough stakes to impact my life or my family life and not at all an addiction. I have the opposite view. I never understood the addiction to booze. I personally can't stand the taste of anything other than wine. Who in their right mind wants to drink to oblivion, do things they don't remember, hurl in the back of an uber (or worse, get a DUI) and then spend the next 27 hours hungover?

As for the allure of gambling, you clearly have never been at a craps table at the Bellagio where someone held the dice for 45 minutes. You've never won (or lost) a parlay or sports bet because of a pitchy pitchy woo woo play or a 61 yd FG that impacts the spread, or the total or both. You've never had an NCAA tourney bet win (or lose) when some jackwagon hits a meaningless 35 foot three at the buzzer. Never flopped quads late in a poker tourney when another player also makes a hand, or better, tries to run a bluff on you while you hold quads. There is a rush that comes from gambling that I suspect is similar to the rush that comes from having 9 shots of Jack in an hour.

And yes, all addictions are indeed terrible.

Hmm, unless Im reading your post wrong and seeing inflections that arent there, it seems like my post offended ya for some reason.

But regardless, I didnt say anyone who drinks, drugs, gambles, eats fatty foods in large quantities, consumes large doses of caffeine, spends inordinate amounts of time on social media etc. etc. have an addiction, and I fully realize that there’s a larger percentage of people who drink responsibly and socially, gamble within their monetary means and so on, than people who catch an addiction to any of the aforementioned, but I was speaking to what I know best, addiction…while askin about the allure to gambling since Im not knowledgeable in regards to that particular addiction.

And your ‘who in their right mind wants to…’ part of your post, while probably asked rhetorically and sarcastically, the blatantly simple and accurate answer is…nobody. Noone in their right mind wants to wreck their life and the people around them, hence the reason it’s an addiction and those with a heart and a conscience will fight tooth and nail to conquer it.

[DIAMONDINTHEROUGH]

100%. Seemingly every time the game goes to break, more gambling (bleep) instantly appears on my TV. Which makes following the games less enjoyable. And it’s not just Fan Duel. TNT and ESPN are just as overbearing.