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Media Egging On Gamblers?

Gambling is a sensitive issue at best and when it comes to sports betting, we encounter more issues than normal. The people behind the team sports, especially, are not all happy about the fact that there is betting going on on their games. Take David Stern, the NBA Commissioner for example. He has been quoted as saying that “we don’t want the weeks’ grocery money to be bet on the outcome of a particular sporting event.”

He is not the only figure who thinks the same way. Bowie Kuhn, a former baseball commissioner also said that “anything that encourages gambling on team sports bothers me. We all look hypocritical but than why are we putting up the odds unless we are trying to encourage it.”

So where is all this coming from? If you open your newspapers – online and offline – you will see lots of ads showing the betting spreads and odds on various team sports. This is what people are saying: the media is promoting gambling.

Is there anything wrong with that? Looking at the surface, I don’t see anything wrong with that. The problem, as I see it, arises when you consider those who have gambling problems. But should the media be blamed for this? This is a tricky subject. There are so many factors that come into play and I think it is simplistic to blame the media for promoting gambling. Perhaps that is not even the root of the issue.

What do you think?