It's coming — the ability to bet on your child and bond with them at the same time, say online bookies
When Jontay Porter checked into a Jan. 26 game against the LA Clippers, it came after a flurry of betting on the Toronto Raptors scoring odds. The over/under on made Porter three-pointers was 0.5, points scored at 5.5, rebounds 4.5 and 1.5 assists.
He hit the under on all of them ... as he left the game after four minutes, with the team reporting it was the aggravation of an eye injury from the night before.
It wasn't long — especially after the betting sites noticed a spike in prop betting on the relatively unknown player — that suspicious were raised.
The league has now launched a formal investigation, with a spotlight on two games — the aforementioned Jan. 26 game, and another Mar. 20 contest against the Sacramento Kings — for irregularities. Both games had unusually high betting interest, with a surge in under betting props on Porter. The Draft Kings website said both with the biggest money-makers for bettors on their respective nights.
The news has rocked the NBA, which still hasn't washed away the stain left by the scandal of 2007 when referee Tim Donaghy admit he bet on games he officiated across four seasons, and was sentenced to 15 months in jail.
It has gotten worse with the revelations coming out of MLB, where LA Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani had to fire his assistant after he stole money from him for betting purposes. Or if insider reports are to believed, fell on his sword and took the blame for Ohtani's illegal bookmaking.
The spotlight and pressure is firmly on the betting sites, which only entered the realm of legality in Canada three years ago. The U.S. has different laws in each of their states, especially Nevada, with 38 currently allowing online sports gambling.
But the current headlines aren't dissuading the online betting companies, who are in fact doubling down.
It's in Sin City, where they host numerous high-profile AAU tournaments, that a new source of revenue is being tested: legalized betting on youth sports.
The trial balloon is backed by several sponsors of the elite club circuits in the US, which include Nike, Under Armour and Adidas.
"It's a massive source of untapped revenue," said Ken Kaufman of premierpropbets.com.
"The ability to wager on your son or daughter's basketball game will only serve to increase the excitement and bonding one can have with each other. The potential for huge winnings might even serve to help pay the club fees for some parents, enabling them to reduce the financial burden that comes with paying to be part of travelling teams."
He's not worried about the same inconsistencies that are plaguing Porter in the NBA creeping into the lower level of youth basketball.
"Once it becomes legal, you can have some greater control in monitoring the market,” Kaufman said. “Do I think it's extraordinarily likely that some impropriety will occur? I actually don’t. It's hard to fix individual games. It's hard to fix prop betting, especially at the youth level, where skills haven't developed the level necessary. The very fact it's amateur will inject randomness into the equation, save for those savvy bettors who are familiar with the strengths and weaknesses on various club teams."
Legalized sports betting in the US was an $11 billion industry in 2023, according to the American Gaming Association’s annual report. The tax revenue it provides is an attractive lure for the states involved.
Playno.com, the top Canadian betting site in B.C., is also considering opening the door to youth sports betting North of the border, but only for teams competing in the top-level Canada Hoops Circuit, with a small portion going to the winners of the provincial summits and nationals.
"There has been a high number of offshore sites that have actually already been taking bets on club basketball in Canada. We're just trying to bring that into the light and legitimize it," said Grace Pearlman of playno.com. "It's one of the areas we're seeing a lot of active growth. We're actually considering even opening it up down to the U10 level. We think there's a real opportunity there."
Premierpropbets.com will be going live with their first game, on Monday, Apr. 1. Click here to for the subsection of the site where you can find it.
Hope you enjoyed this article! It was posted on April 1, 2024 - Happy April Fool's.
Comments