POLL and Discussion: Sports Betting

[Popeye_Card]

Curious as to where everyone is at on this subject. I'm guessing based on the discussions we've had in the baseball talk forum that most are against it (at least for baseball), but I also feel like way more people gamble on sports now and maybe I'm still a bit naive to it.

I'm pretty sure I'm 7UP, but not completely dismissing that I could place a bet at some point in the future. I'm not a big gambler in general other than the world's largest casino (the New York Stock Exchange).

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Betting is the death of competitive sport. It will corrupt whatever it touches.

[Popeye_Card]

I made this post about sports betting, but it could be about prediction markets in general. I read recently that some dude bet $32k on Maduro being ousted in January 2026, and pocketed over $400k. Seems like an awfully large wager if you didn’t have some sort of insider info that something was going to go down.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I'll do it here and there. I'm pretty guarded against anything causing dopamine rushes nowadays so definitely don't do it everyday. I put $40 into an account, got a bonus a couple years ago, and have been playing with it since then. Don't plan on ever depositing more or withdrawing it. I'm down a little bit, as expected, but have plenty of money to go for a long while at small bet sizes.

[GeddyWrox]

Playing some friendly poker is the limit of my gambling. I don't want to get sucked in to anything online like that.

[CardsofSTL]

I never have and am just not much of a gambler in general. I have no problem with people doing it if they want.

I do think that they are stretching the limits of propriety when the betting companies are owning the broadcasts of sporting events. When I watch the game I don't really care to see all the betting lines, etc that get flashed up; I just want to sit there and enjoy an ice cold Budweiser. This message was sponsored by Anheuser Busch.

[ghostrunner]

I assume this excludes fantasy leagues with prize money or March madness pools. I’ve only done the latter of those though. Never any sports gambling. Not opposed in principle but I’d like much more regulation.

Do people know that sites like Draft Kings have people that will contact bigger spenders to encourage more betting? That blew my mind and I don’t understand how that’s legal.

[Popeye_Card]

Yeah, I’m talking more about the DraftKings, FanDuel phone betting apps. It is horribly addictive for people.

[heyzeus]

I made this post about sports betting, but it could be about prediction markets in general. I read recently that some dude bet $32k on Maduro being ousted in January 2026, and pocketed over $400k. Seems like an awfully large wager if you didn’t have some sort of insider info that something was going to go down.

People are betting on discrete outcomes of the war in Iran, which is sick. This article is eye opening -- username "Magamyman" made $553k betting on Polymarket on the death of Ayatollah Khamenei. Trump Jr. is on Polymarket's advisory board. So the same corrupting influence gambling has on sports can now be applied to any event on the planet. Super!

[GeddyWrox]

I made this post about sports betting, but it could be about prediction markets in general. I read recently that some dude bet $32k on Maduro being ousted in January 2026, and pocketed over $400k. Seems like an awfully large wager if you didn’t have some sort of insider info that something was going to go down.

People are betting on discrete outcomes of the war in Iran, which is sick. This article is eye opening -- username "Magamyman" made $553k betting on Polymarket on the death of Ayatollah Khamenei. Trump Jr. is on Polymarket's advisory board. So the same corrupting influence gambling has on sports can now be applied to any event on the planet. Super!

Sick, indeed.