ALMOST every sports fan I know has wagered on a game in the past few months. For basketball fans, it’s usually the NBA or PBA finals, while for others, they are usually involved in small wagers with friends on local matches.
Last year, the US legalized sports gambling and, according to an ESPN report, seven states raked in $8 billion in bets. Now that’s a lot of money.
I don’t think we are going to see any legalized form of sports gambling in the country soon but I hope the government will look into it. Not only will it bring added revenue to the government, it might even clean up some of the dirty aspects in some of the leagues.
Nobody likes to talk about it officially but I know it’s happening. Heck, some say it’s openly happening in the minor leagues. I’m talking about point-shaving and points-padding.
It’s where the money is, I am told. How that happens, I don’t know but the most prominent case seems to involve the PBA D-League, which has seen some strange scoring patterns lately.
A few days ago, St. Clare won by a record 180-117 against Hyperwash after leading by just 54-51 at the half, just the latest in a series of mind-boggling scores in the D-League.
That’s not the first. Last year, Mila’s Lechon pulled out after losing by an average of 26.2 points. But that’s not all. Spin.ph carried an investigative report where despite being tied at 25 in the first quarter, live betting abroad had the spread going as big as 46.5 points.
To put it in layman’s terms, if you see two teams battling it out evenly in the first quarter, would you be willing to bet that one team will win by 47 points?
No. Only a fool would be that crazy. Unless of course you know something’s going to happen, something like a team losing by 47 after playing competitively in the first quarter.
I thought that was the end of it but with the recent developments in the D-League, it seems it’s not over. I’m told that it’s happening too in other leagues.
Can legalizing sports gambling reduce that? I really have no idea. But if there are some government control placed on odds or spreads, then perhaps shady dealings such as the one involving the bets on that D-League team will be minimized?