Gambling is ruining sports. . .

[juan good eye]

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.

I think this just shows how stacked the odds are against the bettor, and how much money the gambling sites are making off of them, if they can afford all the advertising time.

This and how profitable addiction is.

It’s more expensive to find a new customer than it is to retain one. Addiction takes care of the latter.

[DIAMONDINTHEROUGH]

The sad thing is, I’m watching less hockey as a result. I used to watch games without any interruption. All the endless ads have become so annoying, I usually just have the game on in the background doing something else. Or just changing the channel entirely to something with less irritating ads. I cringe thinking how the bombardment of ads will continue getting worse.

[the miracle]

The sad thing is, I’m watching less hockey as a result. I used to watch games without any interruption. All the endless ads have become so annoying, I usually just have the game on in the background doing something else. Or just changing the channel entirely to something with less irritating ads. I cringe thinking how the bombardment of ads will continue getting worse.

This is ultimately why I stopped watching the NFL. It seemed like after every play Dennis Leary was telling me to be Ford Tough! The Rams getting bad and ultimately leaving put the last shovel of dirt on the grave, but the casket had been lowering for a while.

[the miracle]

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.

I think this just shows how stacked the odds are against the bettor, and how much money the gambling sites are making off of them, if they can afford all the advertising time.

This and how profitable addiction is.

It’s more expensive to find a new customer than it is to retain one. Addiction takes care of the latter.

It appears to be working. Wife and I went out to dinner a few weeks ago and sat at the bar - wanted to order some food but the bartender just kept talking about winning some bet for 20 minutes. Finally had to say "hey, I don't mean to be rude, but we were hoping to grab a bite".

[Old_Goat]

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

Works every time.

It does...set the recording, have a nice relaxing dinner and even do the dishes afterwards to win points with the cook...Start watching about an hour after scheduled start, zoom through the 1 min 50 seconds at commercials and really zoom through the 19 minutes for period breaks, and you'll wrap it all up right around the same time as the clock on the wall...Still get to bed early and cash in those points!

[Old_Goat]

Well advertising does pay the bills and allows us to affordably see a lot more good hockey exceptionally well with the advancements in video broadcast technology, so there's that.
The concerns about gambling influence in sports is legitimate and has been for years -- The Black Sox scandal, Pete Rose and quite a few other instances. No moral messaging here, because I fortunately have not been affected by any good or bad with gambling. The old simple bet on whom will win the game, or win/place/show in the horse race seemed okay. Although not good, it was kind of funny watching the rider in a harness carriage pulling back on both reins like a madman to throw a local harness race...funny I guess because I was just there for the food and beer and not to bet.
But I digress...the betting on will the next pitch be a strike? or will a particular player have X number of shots on goal? seems to bring in the greater potential of massive level questioning of the integrity of more participants.
For me, I'm getting the sense that a car accident could have better payoff odds than any sports bet or lottery ticket, with all of the injury law ads.

[iowa blues fan]

There is no way with the amount of money coming from this that there isn’t going to be a significant amount of problems.
You are definitely gonna have players taking money to affect games or even organized crime getting involved.

[Blues Dave]

And speaking of commercials. I do not believe the auto loan pro knows what it's like to hoist the Cup.

[BalotelliMassive]

Gambling isn't ruining sports - it's ruining people.

[tubastarr]

I don’t know …I’ve got new respect for the gambling companies after they are the ones that reported the NBA scandal a few weeks ago. Seems like after all that went down it was the gambling companies that were honest party here.

They reported it because they lost money. Honesty had little to do with it.

[crookedfeeder]

I don’t know …I’ve got new respect for the gambling companies after they are the ones that reported the NBA scandal a few weeks ago. Seems like after all that went down it was the gambling companies that were honest party here.

Sketchy stuff happening with the UFC (cancelling fights). From the get go with NHL player (Kane? ) sog over/under's I thought players could easily just miss the net. slippery slope indeed and it didn't take long.