The Super Bowl is a spectacle widely regarded for the incredible amount of expense that goes into it. Millions of dollars are spent by the host cities of the event, in an attempt to turn a single evening event into a weeklong celebration of American football. But, for many Americans, the event has become more about illegally wasting money.
Not only do local governments spend inordinate amounts to host the event (which oftentimes is not a financial boon), but private companies spend extravagant amounts on commercial airtime. In fact, this year, the price of a 30 second television spot will reach five million dollars.
Yet with all this openly spent money on the Super Bowl, a large amount of the revenues for the Super Bowl are illegal. In last year’s Super Bowl, Americans spent nearly four billion dollars betting illegally on the game. Due to the nature of sports betting legislation in the U.S., this is substantially more than what was legally bet on the event.
There is one true way to prevent illegal gambling, and that is to remove the illegal aspect. Currently, only four states in the Union allow for legal betting on sports, despite the massive desire for it.
Websites like Fanduel.com and Draftkings.com have become top 1000 sites on the American Internet, according to Alexa.com, and reach into the top 500 during the peak of football season. These sites have created controversy, due to their nature as “daily fantasy” sites being a thin veil for gambling. The explosion of popularity these sites have shown that the American public desires a legal way to gamble on sports.
Continuing to bet on sports illegally does no good for anyone. It promotes organized crime, it creates income that goes untaxed, and it costs the government dealing with these issues. Citizens seeking out illegal channels for their gambling desires can create all kinds of personal problems.
One consistent defense against sports gambling is a desire to maintain the sanctity of sport; a sanctity most proselytizers on gambling do not realize went out the window decades ago. Every week, some new controversy springs up in the sports world, and fans betting on the game pales in comparison to most of these.
Creating more legal channels to gamble on sports will make things safer for everyone. The current legislation against it has proven to do nothing to stop it, and its ineffectiveness just makes it wasteful. Creating legal channels will limit the ties to organized crime in gambling, which helps keep gamblers safe. It will also benefit the government more, because the winnings will be taxed more often.
Corey Krajewski is Opinions Editor of the Bona Venture. His email is
krajewcj15@bonaventure.edu
