Listen now | Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang recently wrote a takedown of legal sports betting at Newsweek. Here’s a rant about why I don’t like any of it.
There's not all that much new in Yang's piece. What's new is that sports gambling is now out in the open, where it used to be operated in the shade. Sure, there are problems but the industry is trying to take some responsible actions to moderate the risks. What I don't see is much of an effort by the industry to do good for communities to counteract the downside. In particular, I'd like to see the industry do a lot more for youth sports at the grass roots level. I have some ideas if anyone is interested. hank.werronen@gmail.com
Yeah, they sometimes try to build into the bills that sports betting revenue funds critical programs. Agree it would be nice to see more from the operators. Sports betting directly benefiting youth sports might be a bit weird from an optics standpoint. Interestingly, here in Oregon, you can't bet on college sports because the state lottery funds higher education and they didn't want that weirdness of college betting benefitting colleges.
There's not all that much new in Yang's piece. What's new is that sports gambling is now out in the open, where it used to be operated in the shade. Sure, there are problems but the industry is trying to take some responsible actions to moderate the risks. What I don't see is much of an effort by the industry to do good for communities to counteract the downside. In particular, I'd like to see the industry do a lot more for youth sports at the grass roots level. I have some ideas if anyone is interested. hank.werronen@gmail.com
Yeah, they sometimes try to build into the bills that sports betting revenue funds critical programs. Agree it would be nice to see more from the operators. Sports betting directly benefiting youth sports might be a bit weird from an optics standpoint. Interestingly, here in Oregon, you can't bet on college sports because the state lottery funds higher education and they didn't want that weirdness of college betting benefitting colleges.