zlacker

>>jimbob+(OP)
Sports gambling, like all gambling, ruins lives. It's certainly worth having the discussion about whether people should be able to run a train through their life and the lives of their families via app.

But a much easier argument against sports betting is that it ruins the sports. Players throw. They get good at subtly cheating. The gambling apparatus latches itself to the sport, to the teams and players, the umpires and judges, the sporting organizations. With this much money on the line, it's not a matter of if but when games are thrown, cheated -- the bigger the game, the bigger the incentive. It's even easier now because of the amount of side/parlay betting that is available. It exhausts the spirit of competition.

Sports gambling is diametrically opposed to sport itself.

>>mlsu+wN1
Exactly. Sports gambling takes the fun out of sports for those who are not interested in gambling.

>>esalma+CY1
that's like saying alcoholics take the fun out of wine drinking for people who don't have a drinking problem.

>>fsckbo+BZ1
Not really? It's more like saying alcoholics take the fun out of going to a restaurant that happens to have a bar.

>>Maxfor+x22
Your analogy is an improvement, but both of you are weirdly mapping "alcoholics" to "people who are interested in gambling". A valid analogy would speak of people who are interested in alcohol.

(Incidentally, the restaurant in your analogy would probably not be viable without that bar!)

>>albedo+dH2
>A valid analogy would speak of people who are interested in alcohol.

I did speak of people who enjoy wine (that contains alcohol) and don't have an alcohol problem. Their enjoyment of wine is not ruined by winos on the curb drinking out of paper bags.