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Let me confess, I am a huge sports fan. Sports played a pivotal role in my youth, crescendoing in my collegiate football career, and watching sports is still a favorite pastime today. Like most fans, I welcome innovations that make watching sports more fun and engaging. But there is a new threat that tries to exploit this enthusiasm without regard to the consequences, and it is online sports betting malaysia provide IBCBET ,
MAXBET ,SBOBET
From your ever-present mobile phone, you can increase your emotional and — more importantly, financial — engagement with any game or match, but you also expose yourself to alarming risks. If you’ve scrolled social media feeds or tuned in to watch on game day, you’ve probably been inundated with promos for “risk-free” and “no-brainer” betting opportunities on online sportsbooks. The ads position sports gambling as a fun, easy way to engage with the game and socialize with your friends, not unlike the fantasy football league you’re in.
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But this isn’t just a game. It has serious, real-life consequences for millions of Americans, and we need to demand more education, regulation and accountability to keep people safe. We shouldn’t wait for online sports betting to become a problem; we should push for preemptive action from operators and state governments.
High Profits, Few Rules
Since the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports betting Malaysia in 2018, any state can choose to legalize it. To date, 25 states and Washington, D.C. have already done so, and many will profit from the newly legal industry.
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Leading up to this year’s Super Bowl, 23.2 million Americans reported plans to bet $4.3 billion on the game. A record 7.6 million people said they would bet online, up 63% from the previous year.
The sports betting market in the U.S. generated $1 billion in revenue in 2020, and that number is projected to grow sixfold by 2023. If betting becomes legalized in all 50 states, estimated revenues will exceed $19 billion a year. New multibillion-dollar marketing niches will expand as media and tech startups compete for consumer attention.
Plenty of people stand to make money from sports betting, but so far, there are few laws or other controls in place to protect consumers from misleading or predatory marketing tactics. And what are the costs?
The Dangerous Intersection Of Tech And Gambling
In a review of more than 140 studies and reports related to sports betting and gambling addiction, the National Council on Problem Gaming released a statement saying, “recent research suggests that gambling problems may increase as sports gambling grows explosively at the same time that mobile and online technologies evolve to create seemingly unlimited types of wagering opportunities.”
Some highlights from their findings:
• Sports bettors have higher rates of gambling problems than other gamblers (at least twice as high), and gambling problems increase with online betting
• 45% of sports betting now takes place online; this is problematic because online gambling is available any time, providing more convenience and privacy
• Sports bettors who use mobile devices have a higher incidence of problem gambling
• Aggressive marketing and advertising promotions make it more difficult for sports bettors who are trying to reduce their gambling
• Young people have higher rates of gambling problems than adults; 75% of students gambled, according to data from 2018
As online sports betting becomes more accessible and socially acceptable, especially among younger fans, we can expect these problems to intensify unless we take decisive action now.
What Is The Path Forward?
I don’t advocate for a total ban on sports gambling, but we need to make it much safer, starting with the following actions:
• Researching the dangers and educating the public
Many sports fans simply don’t know about the harm online sports betting can have. We must do more research about the financial, mental health and addiction risks associated with sports gambling. I believe the funding for this research, as well as educational outreach and treatment programs, should come from a direct tax on sports betting revenue. In the UK, there have been growing calls for this kind of mandatory industry tax to pay for gambling addiction treatment.
• Prohibiting TV advertising for sports betting
I think betting operators should be banned from advertising on ESPN and other influential sports channels, not to mention sponsoring programming that discusses wagering odds, point spreads and other gambling data. If total prohibition isn’t possible, operators should at minimum be required to disclose hard facts about sports betting, including the financial and mental health risks and the actual odds of winning and losing.
These ads normalize gambling without addressing any of the hazards, and this is especially dangerous for children watching. There are no parental controls for sports programs, and within a single generation, we run the risk that sports fans will start to believe that they can’t enjoy sports without being engaged in some sort of gambling.
• Enacting strict laws and regulations
Casinos are highly regulated by gaming commissions in states where they are legal, such as Nevada and New Jersey. I believe we need equally strong statutes and regulations to hold online sports betting operators accountable. It’s not enough to have industry best practices or codes of conduct; we need clear laws that are enforced by government agencies.
I love sports, and I support tech and business innovation, but this issue is about far more than fandom or profits. We can’t allow online sports betting companies to operate without rules or consequences when the stakes are so high.