Coming out of the sports gambling closet – Kitsap Sun

Jim Moore| Sports columnist

Sports betting is now legal at Washington State tribal casinos, many of which will be open to take your wagers sometime next month. In fact, the Snoqualmie Casino sports book is already operating.Ive seen videos of the sports book there andat the Emerald Queen,and they look very similar to what youd see in Las Vegas.

This is great news and long overdue. I have never understood why sports gambling is illegal when its been OK to place bets on horse racing and spend money on lottery tickets and pull tabs.

You can tell me why its a potential problem because of its addictive nature that leads to compulsive gambling. Ill give you that, but you can have the same issues with liquor and marijuana, and theyre both legally available at a store near you.

Ive been betting on sports for about 40 years. Its the first time Ive publicly admitted this for a variety of reasons. First of all, it wasillegal. Secondly, it just seems to be one of those hush-hush activities you dont want to say much about, particularly in my line of work when I was a sportswriter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and sports talk show host at 710 ESPN Seattle.

Ive bet on games that Ive covered, which I knew was wrong but figured what the hell, as long as my bosses didnt find out about it. This was a bigger concern at the radio station, especially after an edict two years ago instructing the hosts not to talk about alcohol or gambling anymore.

I thought that was crazy since manysports radio listeners were probably fans who liked to drink during games and bet on them, but the station's ownership, Bonneville International, isowned by the LDS Church, and that was their call. It caused the end of a segment I enjoyed doing called The Smokin Lock of the Week, where I would pick one team that was a sure bet, only to typically have it blow up in my face.I was so bad at it that listeners routinely bet on the opposite team and won hand over fist.

But it was all in fun, just like sports gambling is forme. Before the proliferation of offshore gambling sites, I had a bookie. If youre unfamiliar with that term, a bookie is a guy who takes your bets and you settle up with him at a later date.

I lost more often than I won, and that makes sports betting no different than any other form of gambling. Think about it theyre building those big, beautiful casinos with our money, not theirs. Very few consistently win betting on sports. How is that different from playing craps, black jackor slot machines?

Ive always felt like you have better odds picking one team or the other a 50/50 chance, no? comparedto other forms of gambling, and your wager typically lasts longer. Say you bet $50 on a game.That $50 is going to give you three hours of entertainment if you bet on a football game. In craps, that $50 might last only five minutes.

Whats happening here is happening elsewhere in the country more than half of the 50 states have legalized or are in the process of legalizing sports betting. And what I love is that its becoming more acceptable on networks like ESPN, where point spreads are routinely talked about when theyre not flashing in front of us on the ticker at the bottom of the screen.

The NFL has partnered with seven sports books, and were going to see moresports betting ads during football games this season. An estimated $12 billion will be wagered on NFL games at sports books in 2021. The NFL finally and wiselyfigured out that it wants part of that action.

Even if Im not betting on a game, Ive always wanted to know the spread. It just makes it more interesting to me for many reasons I like thinking about the guy who bet a bundle on a game and is sweating it out in the last two minutes or just getting an idea of how much better the oddsmakers think one team is than its opponent.

If I told you I was a recreational sports bettor, youd probably tell me Im kidding myself, and maybe I am. I do know that some things are in the back of my mind all the time my mom telling me about my grandfather losing their house once in a card game and the fact that Im unemployed, making it even dumber to blow money on acant-win-over-time endeavor.

I typically bet $10, $20 or $40 on a game now. But I made some ridiculous wagers a long time ago. At the end of the NFL playoffs during the 1984 season, I was up $1,200 on my bookie and decided to let it ride on the Dolphins +3 against the 49ers in the Super Bowl. San Francisco won 38-16 and I cant remember what I felt worse about losing the $1,200 or a friend of mine mocking me the entire game for being stupid enough to bet on Miami.

Its always baffled me that sports betting has been considered taboo and yet fantasy football is universally accepted even though its technically gambling too. Youre just betting on players instead of teams and somehow thats perceived to be OK.Same thing with March Madness pools.

It feels good to come out of the sports gambling closet, and Ill just bet tsk, tsk that many others feel the same way.

Jim Moore is a longtime Pacific Northwest sportswriter and sports radio personality, and writes a regular column for the Kitsap Sun. Contact Jim atjimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.comand follow him on Twitter@cougsgo.

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Coming out of the sports gambling closet - Kitsap Sun