A college student wakes up one Sunday morning. A day for most students used to relax and prepare for the upcoming week is the most stressful for this particular 20 year-old. The student awakes and immediately rushes to his computer. He checks his online wagers and paces back and forth in his cluttered dorm room as he looks at his bank account statement pinned to his cork board out of the corner of his eye. The football teams he chose must win so he can live another day debt free. This is a typical day for Ben Rosin, a student at the University of Arizona, and for many other students across the country.
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| If legalized, sports betting would generate an estimated $10 billion per year and $100 million in taxes per state |
With the technology of computers and smart phones advancing at such a high rate over the past decade, many college students are exposed to the vastness of the internet and the capabilities of using money over the web in any way imaginable.
In college, sports gather students from all corners of the country. Each student routes for, believes in, and ultimately becomes lifelong fans of their college's sports teams. The fan-ship of sports is evolving into a normality, as students are becoming more engaged in sports than ever before. With this engagement in sports comes many benefits; common interests of peers, school spirit, and memorable moments of success of one’s favorite team.
But for some, the engagement in sports isn’t satisfied by these benefits. Sports betting offers a bigger rush, and many fans end up conditioned to seek it. In fact, 118 million Americans gambled on sports in some manner in 2008, according to an online ESPN survey.
The life of a college student consists of mainly attending class, completing homework, and socializing with other students. Social life becomes the focal point for many students, who try to find ways to communicate similar interests through different outlets, such as social media. As sports are a general topic of interest among most students, sports betting buzz inevitably arises.
Ben Rosin, a student at the University of Arizona, from Landover, Maryland, is an avid sports better comfortable with his decision to gamble online. Growing up an hour outside FedEx field, the home of the Washington Redskins, sports were something he and his family were surrounded with his entire upbringing. Rosin is an avid Redskins fan, and his favorite sport to watch is professional basketball. Rosin has asked to use a pseudonym for identity protection.
One morning I sit with Rosin at his computer while he places bets. He has multiple tabs open on his computer to certain sites such as ESPN.com, 5Dimes.com, and other sites dedicated to sports statistics. His dorm room is filled with sports memorabilia, most notably a life size Chris Paul poster that takes up half of one wall. Rosin, coincidentally wearing a Chris Paul New Orleans Hornets jersey, starts vociferously arguing his betting points to himself while taking sips of his Monster Energy Drink. “I was first introduced two and a half years ago, my freshmen year of college, when a couple of my friends at the dorms were talking about sports and looking at a sports betting website called 5Dimes.com,” Rosin says as he turns on the television and flips to ESPN. To Rosin and other students, the internet has made sports betting very convenient.
The convenience of betting over the internet also gives any person anywhere the capability to bet on any game. According to sports handicapping site, todayspicks.net, approximately 380 billion dollars is bet through offshore books or with bookies each year. Sports betting is now a close second to poker in popularity of online gambling games among college students. The more popular websites include: 5dimes, PinnacleSports, Bodog, and Bet365.
Picture yourself, an avid sports fan, visiting your friend’s dorm room or apartment to watch a sporting event of your favorite team. You arrive to your friend and a handful of acquaintances fiddling on their computers. As they surf through the web you notice a friend on a strange website with the slogan “5Dimes: Over 1000 Wagering Options – Everyday!” You casually ask your friend about the website, and he explains that he’s betting on the game and a slew of other games, and then he or she continues to boast his or her winnings. That person then explains the ease of betting and asks you if you want to take a crack at it.
This spread of online sports betting through word of mouth and social media is skyrocketing. Through the dorm rooms to the living rooms friends of friends are boasting and encouraging sports betting across the world. According a telephone survey of 2,000 adults by Pew Research Center, about 23 percent of all adults bet on sports and approximately 33 percent of all American men say they gamble on sports.
Another student, John Marmont, is a senior at the University of Arizona. Marmont, who aslo asked to use a pseudonym for identity protection, has been betting on sports online since the 11th grade. He is originally from Gilbert, Arizona, and is an avid Phoenix Suns, Coyotes, and Arizona Cardinals fan. Marmont, a Mathematics major, attempts to use probability to break sports betting down to a science. Not only does he bet on multiple games each week, he relies on sports betting as a source of income.
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| John Marmont cheeers on his Arizona Wildcats with fellow University of Arizona fans as U of A faces Washington |
When walking around the University of Arizona with Marmont a brisk Friday morning, I begin to ask him of his involvement in sports betting. “After learning the ins and outs of online sports betting over the years, I tend to make around $300 a month betting,” Marmont said. Marmont plans to graduate in May, 2011 and to continue betting after college. “The way I bet is almost businesslike,” he said. “I’d like to say that I know enough about the risk to play the odds and win somewhat consistently.”
There are others, like Marmont who begin betting on sports on the internet at an extremely early age. A survey conducted by Pew Research Center reveals that 44 percent of 12th-grade males said they had bet on sports at least once.
A logical explanation for why students bet online is the lack of risk. Young adults such as Rosin rely on alternative resources of money to eliminate the potential losses. “At first, I put in 50 dollars at a time, but then I realized that my parents had access to my bank account, so I opened up my own bank account, and would take money out of my original account in small increments, and then put 100 at a time in 5dimes.” Rosin says. Rosin used his college allowance from his parents for 18 months before he relied on using winnings for wagers. Rosin says he gambled approximately 200 dollars before his parents became suspicious.
As more and more students attend college and are fortunate enough to have parents provide financial support for tuition and other expenses, they will rationalize betting if given the opportunity. The money given to them will be spent one way or another. What do they have to lose?
Rosin is among many students in the negative as a result of gambling online. “After a while, I would take losses, based on how much money I was gambling. I was betting hundreds of dollars a week, and would win some and lose some.” Rosin said. “I would never feel that I was losing significantly based on how much I bet, but over a couple of months, and a bad streak, I wound up in the negative.” Rosin says he is currently $500 in the negative.
After interviewing many of my peers' parents about sports betting, opinions varied on the subject. Joe Molinelli, parent of a junior attending the U of A says he doesn't mind if his son gambles, as long as he knows the risk involved. “I've read about and have had conversations with friends about betting on sports online,” Molinelli said. “If my son chooses to bet, that's his choice. If he wins, good for him. If he loses, it will be a lesson he'll quickly learn from.”
Other parents are vehemently opposed to betting online. Susan Flanagan, a high-school teacher in New Jersey and a mother of a freshmen at Rutgers and a senior at New Jersey Institute of Technology says she would be extremely disappointed if her children bet. “If I were to hear that my children had bet online, whether they won or lost, I would feel that I failed to teach them a valuable lesson,” she said. “You can't put trust in making money in something you can't control. If you're foolish enough to make that decision, you deserve no pity if you lose.”
With millions of betters losing money every day the next logical question is when do they stop? Rosin is among the vast number of betters willing to continue betting although he is in debt from losing. When asked if he ever considered stopping Rosin said, “I considered it, but I felt like it was a hobby to me. It was something that gave value to the games I would have watched otherwise. I just figured there were ups and downs like anything else, and I’m OK with that.”
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| Source: Online Sports Betting: Legality Vs Reality |
Apparently the people ‘OK with that’ outweigh the ‘not OK with it’. Recent polls show 42 percent of Americans would support legal sports betting in all states; sports fans supported legalized sports betting by 55 percent.
Americans aren’t the only ones thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. The American government, casinos, and state governments would hit the tax lottery if sports betting were made legal. If legalized, sports betting would generate an estimated $10 billion per year and $100 million in taxes per state, according to todayspicks.net.
Many students such as Rosin say that they wouldn’t bet in Las Vegas or at a casino on games due to its inconvenience. “It would be an inconvenience to me, going all the way there just to bet on some games. Plus, I feel like it takes away from the games in a way,” he says.
So if the young adult population generally prefers betting online, and people who are interested in betting online condone it, why not make it officially legal? Since there is no official law prohibiting online sports betting, and there is no law-binding risk for the player when choosing a reputable site, does it matter?
It matters. With the popularity of sports betting online growing to the point that it has, the ethics of sports betting has been called into question. Due to the ease of use and accessibility of these sites, underage betting, inside betting and fraud are extreme possibilities.
According to another survey on todayspicks.net, 30 percent of college athletes bet on sports, and 4 percent bet on their own games. If sports betting online were made legal, not only would there be regulations prohibiting betting from student athletes, but restrictions on underage betting and potential fraud as well.
According to another survey on todayspicks.net, 30 percent of college athletes bet on sports, and 4 percent bet on their own games. If sports betting online were made legal, not only would there be regulations prohibiting betting from student athletes, but restrictions on underage betting and potential fraud as well.
The fact is that America needs to legalize sports betting nationally to help protect its students, parents, betters, and future betters; because sports betting hasn't gone away, and will not go away as long as an American has a television, a computer and Sportscenter.
A feature by Ryan Tsarsis, for any other questions or comments, contact by email at rtsarsis@gmail.com
