It’s not uncommon to hear of high school kids getting into trouble because they’ve lost a car or are in millions in debt. Welcome to the world of gambling, where the best ones may be the students, but the finances involved are nothing but a small thing.
Sports betting has a profound impact on the way a game is played, particularly games that involve a lot of arbitrage and games with more players involved. In the game of basketball, sports betting has been deeply embroiled in doubt and controversy in professional and even college leagues.
The issue isn’t as well explored in leagues like the National Basketball Association (NBA), but that’s probably because of the high salaries NBA basketball players receive anyway. Sports betting actually makes its presence felt more locally, particularly in the college leagues that are so popular.
Take, for example, the Philippines. The University Athletic Association of the Philippines, or UAAP, is one of the most popular non-professional leagues in the country. And as his popularity has increased, so have the controversies that continue to cloud and surround him.
There has never been a year where accusations of game releases and game fixes have not been leveled. Many times, individual players and even coaches are criticized for those accusations. Writing is so well protected by powerful people and so lucrative that even after several seasons of accusations thrown all over the place, nothing has really happened to change anything.
The hard part about sports betting is that it puts young people in the shadow of a doubt. Many athletes are playing in colleges for a chance at a free education and a possible money-making basketball career in the future. One accusation of point shaving or game fixing and that potentially bright future is suddenly thrown out the window.
The accusations become very intense in the Philippines. Officiating is also a very common weak point in basketball games. In fact, even more accusations are thrown about the officiating of games in the season. Look, basketball, like many other team games, has the potential to be controlled by game regulating officials. After all, fouls and free throws awarded by referees could also dictate whether one team wins and another loses. The intensity of the accusations and intrigues involved in these collegiate games have reached an intensity that forces public officials to try to intervene in the process.
It could be said that the game is ruined by the controversies caused by sports betting. Officials, players and fans alike have everything at stake when it comes to sports and sports betting. The stakes are also high for gamblers, as it is not uncommon for naive young adults to become involved in the tangled web of sports betting.
But the various stakeholders are doing everything they can to remedy the situation; Loyalty checks are being carried out on players and alumni offer to safeguard young athletes and gamers to make sure none of them are infiltrated by top sportsmen. At the end of the day, the game will survive because more than the big shots in the betting circle, the game lovers will do everything they can to make it survive.