Football and Thanksgiving has been a beloved partnership that has been welcomed into the homes and intimate family time for many years. This year, the NFL is bringing someone else with them who might not have been otherwise invited over. If two is company, three is a crowd and your new guest is not the typical alcohol and sexual inuendo that others have warned you about from sports, this time the NFL is bringing “Gambling” over for some turkey and pie. If this is not welcome in your home, you will have to decide to kick the NFL out of your house because the NFL is not going to stay if their new best friend cannot stay.
Fanduel Ad.
Signage and messages once banned from being present or linked to the NFL will now encourage everyone in your family whether they are innocent kids or hardened gambling addicts to “bet now” on the game and they will use every psychological tactic that marketers have been perfecting over the years. Since the Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on sports betting in 2018 the NFL has become very close bedfellows with gambling that has left normal fans wondering if the league is selling out to the money. The integrity of the league has been tarnished as has MLB, NHL, NBA and NCAA sports as scandals and admissions of poor ethics have been more prevalent.
Even casual sport fans wonder if proxy gambling by Shohei Ohtani was covered up and blamed on his interpreter. Considering the treatment of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose by previous commissioners one would have considered that it would not just be Ippei Mizuhara in trouble. With the Dodgers recovering their 10 year 700 million dollar investment back even before the World Series started according to a widely reported article by Joon Lee it makes sense financially for the MLB to turn the figurative blind eye and conduct a quick investigation clearing their star (1). Tourism from Japan to LA was up nearly 90 percent according to the Wall Street Journal and the World Series created a great deal more buzz world wide thanks to the heroics of Ohtani (2). If he is suspended or banned for life, this does not happen.
Less of a conspiracy thanks to an abundance of evidence, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Louis Ortiz have been indicted for conspiring with gamblers to allow for them to win bets. A ridiculously low pitch by Ortiz went viral this summer and money connected has left a clear trail to the players and gamblers. The NBA has also fallen victim to gambling issues as Chauncy Billups and several NBA players are making headlines for their own scandal (3). NCAA student athletes are receiving death threats from their fellow classmates for messing up their parlays. Fans are constantly wondering if the officials are just making bad calls because they are not good at their jobs, or they are in fact making money for themselves or others like Tim Donaghy and others have done?
Why does gambling need to be promoted on Thanksgiving Day when we are supposed to be thankful and happy together?
Billboards all over.
The American Gaming Association estimates the NFL's annual revenue will increase by approximately $2.3 billion because of the widely available legal, regulated sports betting market. Simply put, the NFL really likes the money and power their new friend has and they are going to hang out together on Thanksgiving whether you want them in your home or not (4).
*Full Disclosure, this article is not sponsored by Caesars Entertainment, Draft Kings, FanDuel, Bet MGM, FOX Bet, Points Bet, WynnBET and especially not ESPN Bet, like the NFL is.
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Have a great Thanksgiving!