It was one time said, in Vegas, if there are two flies on the wall you can get a betting line on which fly will take-off first but you can't get a line on professional wrestling. It just isn't a sport. I once heard if you can do it while smoking a cigar or on a date, it's not a sport. I say, if you can't get a bet on the outcome it's not a sport.
People have been betting on various things thru out history. For example, I've always thought it was odd the various gladiatorial games were so popular until I read an off-hand reference to how much some emperor had lost at wagers on a certain set of games. That made it clear. The circuses and gladiatorial venues all existed for betting. They were the original parimutuel concerns. Interesting.
The most widely attended spectator sport in the United States is horse racing. Always has been. People are not going for the silly hats and mint juleps. Betting on horse racing is an American tradition. At one point it was the only thing you could legally wager on. The history of betting on horse races is fascinating. "Somebody bet on the bay."
It has been reported Art Rooney won a parlay bet at Saratoga Springs and used part of his winnings to buy an NFL franchise. About $3,500. The Steelers are now worth well over a billion dollars. It has to be one of the best investments in history. A pretty good bet. It's an interesting aside that the arcane rules regarding sports franchise ownership have no little impact on trying to repeal the inheritance taxes.
It's safe to say the most widely wagered on sport in the United States is NFL football. I just read there is 70 billion wagered on fantasy football annually. The money to the league and the owners comes from television revenue and stadium revenue. Large portions of the country have no near NFL franchise. There's no local rooting interest and therefore no real reason to watch but people do for one very good reason: Betting. Even so, the League barely notices the influence of betting on simple interest in the game.
It has been noticed that the officiating for certain games over the last several years has seemed to favor a few franchises over others that won't draw the same television revenue. I would normally say it's a conspiracy theory but some of it certainly seems to be blatant. It has been said there is holding on every play from scrimmage. It's understandable that all these infractions are not called. What isn't understandable is when a particular team in a particular game isn't penalized for holding at all. It also seems odd a particular team just can't be defeated in the final seconds of any pivotal game. That makes attentive fans and degenerate gamblers alike, suspicious. That could be bad.
The one thing the NFL doesn't want to see is people deciding there is no reason to wager on a fixed outcome. That will mean, in large parts of the country, there is also no reason to watch.
It will be interesting to see the TV and wagering numbers for the upcoming Super Bowl. There is, to say the least, some controversy over the season one of the participants has had including their presence in the game itself. They sure don't want to become the WWE.
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