Money, the object that keeps our lives happy, what keeps the lights on, and that many of people all around the world use to try and win money on their favorite and other sport’s teams. The definition of Gambling is, “the activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money or other stakes.” Prior to 2018, there was a federal ban on sports betting, in the United States from 1992-2018. Only 4 states got immunity, being Nevada, Delaware, Oregon, and Montana. The great state of New Jersey challenged the Federal Ban (PASPA) in the final stages of 2017. On May 14th New Jersey won the challenge, and the Federal Van was struck down. It is currently legal to bet sports in 13 states, (New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Arkansas, New York, Iowa, Indiana, Delaware, Oregon, Nevada.) The most recent to pass it came September 1st, of 2019 in Indiana. Currently There are 5 states that have passed legislation for it but have not launched it yet. Montana being one of them they stopped during the federal ban even though being granted immunity. Besides them, Tennessee, Illinois, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia are waiting to launch it. 

There are tons of benefits to sports betting. The Tax dollars states can get is through the roof. It also ties along with the legalization of Marijuana. Therefore, you see many more states legalizing marijuana and going thru the process of legalizing it. The government when legalizing Sports gambling is not saying that they agree that morally its ok to bet. In this world you must follow the money. Things like Betting, and Legalizing stores to sell marijuana brings in money to the state government that they can use to improve things in our life, especially the school systems and local parks. 

Also, with sports betting, it benefits all the sports teams as well. Any time someone bets on a team those teams receive revenue for it. The sports teams own the rights to their name and brand. So, if a casino uses their name to profit and make money, a given team say the Philadelphia 76ers can say, “Hey, we want a million dollars to use our name and profit off of our team.” Everybody comes out a winner on the money side of the business, except sometimes the bettor. 

In my world of thinking I think about Maryland. The Bullets left to go to DC in 1973. They never got a new arena. The Baltimore Colts left in 1984. Thus, before the federal ban, but it still was a mistake Baltimore made and it made the Colt’s fans in Baltimore Sad and Suffer until the fall of 96’. The Colts especially, left because Baltimore wouldn’t build them a new stadium and the city of Indianapolis would. Rob Irsay the owner of the colts at this time was hungry for a new stadium and snuck the colts out of Baltimore. If Baltimore would’ve just built a new arena, we could still have the colts right now. Things happen for a reason but what if we used the tax dollars and built a new stadium back then that would also bring in tons of revenue, every time it was used. What if in the current day, Baltimore tore down Royal Farms arena, and built a state-of-the-art arena. Like it was said in the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” The people coming will be the sports teams, the Hockey the Basketball teams the city one of the top 30 biggest cities in America deserves. Use that tax money to rebuild the city. Fix the issues with crime Baltimore has. Fix the torn down buildings and rebuild Baltimore. Make it where people can proudly say “I’m from Baltimore!” That’s something most of us will not say at this point and a lot of people will say they are scared to go there. So, people migrate from here. Why not go to a city like Philadelphia in which they have 3 state of the art Stadiums and Arena. 4 sports teams that mostly have been competitive this Century. The Ravens have been almost always good this century, while the Orioles made the playoffs 3 times this century. Haven’t won a World Series in 36 years. No one wants to watch that nor watch a team that has won around 50 games each of the past 2 years. 

There is no better thing for the NFL or any Major sports league then betting. It is crazy how putting even just 10$ on a game makes us watch it feel intrigued and intense. Using the NFL for an example, the NFL and the Networks (CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN) and Direct TV even with the NFL Package make money for us just having the TV on the game. Their ratings go up which is always great for a network. Casinos make tons of money on the daily. There’s a risk to it, on both sides of the business. Only one side can win a bet being you, or the casino. Just like any other addiction people can be addicted to Gambling. There are a lot of people saying that certain sports are dying this and that, and betting on those sports is essentially helping save these sports as we know it. People watch the games because having money on something is an intriguing thing. It’s almost like buying stocks. You have money on something, or into something (stocks) and it keeps you intrigued and knowing when to sell the stocks or keep and sell later.

Just a reminder to everyone reading this, Addiction and Mental Health is a huge issue in this country. If you know you can’t bet without going out of control, then do not bet. Betting is meant to have fun try and make some money. When you must be 21+ to legally bet and gamble there’s better things to put your money towards if money is tight. If money isn’t tight then still don’t be out of control, but have fun, go make some money, and live the best life.