It has been almost seven years since the Supreme Court opened the door to legalized sports betting across the country, and the NBA now finds itself deep into this gambling world that comes with massive (financial) perks and problems.
The league partnered with FanDuel and DraftKings as its betting partners in 2021, and several teams have done deals with casinos as well. (The Athletic has a partnership with BetMGM.) With people able to place bets at games or on their phones, and the focus shifting from fandom to financial for so many observers, the athlete experience during games and online has often become toxic along the way. The controversy has extended beyond the court, too.
Last year, then-Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was banned from the league for what the NBA called a “cardinal sin” of betting on games and sharing inside info. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier has been under federal investigation as well, though the league has cleared him of any wrongdoing.
For a significant segment of players who are merely trying to do their jobs as best they can, there’s another destructive element to all this. Some fans who’ve lost bets take their frustrations out on players online. In the most extreme cases, players have received death threats. It’s part of the dark side of the lucrative cash cow that is sports gambling.
Sports gambling is an important, complex topic. That’s why The Athletic included a question about it in this year’s Anonymous NBA Player Poll. Nearly one-third of the entire league — 150 of the 158 players with whom we spoke — shared their opinions with our writers.
Responses to this question were so spirited, and so diverse and thoughtful, that we decided to share all of the perspectives here.
“Terrible. … They’re taking away the ethics of the sport. We’re getting fans that don’t even care about wins or losses. They don’t care about a certain team. They just care about a ticket to win money. The fact that we’re sponsoring it, to get the money, I guess, helps us in a way. But I think it takes away from the ethics of the sport a little bit.”
“Fans are disrespectful when it comes to it. They hit you after every game in your DMs and stuff like that. I just feel like it takes away from that genuine fan that just appreciates talent. Because you’re just looking to see if a guy can cover rebounds or points. You’re not really appreciating his team. You’re not appreciating all the other stuff that comes with watching the NBA.”
“Good for the money, I guess, but they’re bad, I think, for the game because now fans — not all of them, but a good amount of them — all they care for is their parlays. And I personally hate when I’m walking to the court, and all I hear is, ‘I need 10 rebounds. I need 15 points. I need this. I need that.’ I think it’s very disrespectful to the game and to what we do and the work we put in.”
“I just think the gambling is a bad idea. If you’ve got guys point shaving, it’s bad.”
“I’m sure it’s making a lot of money, but I think it f—- with the integrity of the game, all this gambling. Everybody’s into the gambling but us, but we’re the ones that control all of it. I don’t think it’s good for the league, but it makes the league more money.”
“I hate ’em. I personally hate ’em. There’s just too many people just going out of nowhere, saying ‘F you’ for their parlays and stuff like that. It’s just saturated the game to where people aren’t just enjoying the game. It’s just ‘I’ve got to watch this person to see if I get this parlay, or this one.’ It kind of reminds me of the movie ‘Casino.’ It’s all money-oriented. There’s nothing pure about it.”
“I just think the fact we promote gambling as a country is just wrong. I think you should be able to gamble, but the way it’s promoted, it’s super dangerous. You’ve got people losing money. I don’t like it at all. Fans are gonna heckle regardless, but I think it’s more about promoting gambling to the youth. Kids watch this. So, when you’re promoting FanDuel, I don’t think that’s good for anybody.”
“It’s the dumbest thing ever. Some people just don’t really watch the game. They just look at the numbers. If you mess up someone’s parlay, they bother you — they say some crazy stuff you’ve gotta deal with. They say something about your family. If it was none of that happening, we wouldn’t hear none of that stuff. If you mess up their money or parlay, that’s when they say something to you. So it’s the dumbest thing ever.”
“I think it’s hurting the soul of the game. I think it’s good financially for the short term, but I don’t think it’s good for the essence of the game over the long term.”
“It’s bad, just because you’re mixing that world with the integrity of the sport. We talk about teams truly trying to compete and win out there, when there’s teams probably tanking to get picks, and it’s just not a good look.”
“It’s tough, because it’s business at the end of the day. If they’re going to do that, why be so strict on us? But I get it, point shaving and things of that nature that can go into making the game nasty (are a concern). But at the end of the day, it’s just about money.”
“I understand it from a monetization standpoint. But in terms of fans’ relationship with the players and vice versa, I think it’s bad for the league.”
“From a player’s point of view, it’s maybe a little bit bad because you get more angry fans coming at you.”
“I think it just ruins the fan aspect of basketball or any sport, to be honest. If you hit someone’s parlay, they love you. If you don’t, they want to murder you.”
“It’s bad for the league. It helps generate income, that’s one thing. But you have situations where guys are gambling. If it’s everywhere, it’s hard not to want to do something if they’re promoting it in front of your face.”
“Bad. It just causes a lot of hate.”
“Bad for the league. It undermines the commitment for NBA players and encourages fans to value it over the players.”
Good
“I think it’s just another opportunity to make money. This s— is a business.”
“It’s great. Gambling is great for the league. More money, more eyes, more fan engagement.”
“I think they’re good. It’s more money.”
“I think they’re fine as long as players don’t partake in that. But other than that, I think it’s fine. Let the public do what they want.”
“I think it brings more eyes to the game, especially in the regular season. Obviously, you have die-hard fans, but you need more people just watching to watch NBA basketball. If that means that’s why they’re engaged and watching that, we want that. Obviously, the complaint is people DMing you, whatever, hate mail and all that. At the end of the day, we make more money based on viewership, so I’d rather have more money and people screaming at me than no one screaming at me and less money.”
“I think it’s good. It helps the league make money. That’s the goal. The more money the league makes, the more money we make.”
“I think it engages the fans. I feel like we earn some fans off that. And I feel like it helps the guys who know the game but don’t have money and are trying to get some more money. It doesn’t really hurt us. I really don’t care. I feel like the guys who care are sensitive.”
“It helps fans engage in a whole different way.”
“I think it brings more eyes to the NBA. I think it brings a little bit of a different fan base and views. And more eyes are always good.”
“It makes the league more money.”
“There’s a lot of money to be spent in gambling. So I think at some point, we get a piece of that. It’s good for the game. It’s good for the fans. Obviously, it’s not good if players are doing it. But I think overall, it’s good.”
“All publicity is good publicity. It brings in more money, more revenue, more engagement. It is what it is.”
“I don’t mind it. It’s entertainment for the fans. Some people hate it. I do think it takes away from the true fans, but, s—, (people) got to make (money).”
“Good. It gets the fans more engaged into the games. All you have to do is just worry about a safety hazard for the players. But when you’re trying to get fan engagement, that’s definitely something that helps.”
“It gets more people involved watching it. Whether it’s for the good or bad, people will engage with the league more.”
“However we get more money is good.”
“It’s fun. As long as, obviously, players and people involved aren’t on it.”
“I think it’s good. It gives fans the outlet to gamble on games, have fun with it. Obviously, you have to do it responsibly. But I think it’s good.”
“They’re good, because it helps promote the league and all the companies. I think it’s good, benefits both sides.”
“It’s good, but because of it, people don’t actually watch the games.”
“I think it’s good. I think it makes people watch the game. When people have money on the game, they’re invested.”
“It puts more money in the league’s pockets. But it also puts your players on the line, in a sense. I’d say it’s good. I personally don’t like it, but I think it’s good for the league.”
“I think it creates an opportunity for our fan base to grow, and I have no problem with it at all.”
In the middle/undecided
“(The) good (part is the partnerships) bring in a lot of money. Bad because I hear about every single shot I miss.”
“Overall, it’s good for the money that they bring. But it’s annoying dealing with it.”
“Business-wise, and money-wise, it’s good. But player-fan relationship (wise), it’s horrible.”
“It’s OK. Some people take it too serious.”
“It depends. Obviously it’s all for money, if you see it for what it is. Obviously a situation (like Porter) is not ideal for the league. It’s not impossible to happen again. I don’t think it’s that good for the league in the long term. But, money.”
“It’s good because I’m sure it makes lots of money. But I think gambling is overall a bad thing, so I’m not sure the league should be encouraging people to do it.”
“It’s good for making money, I guess. But it’s bad for people who take it too far in how they approach people and games and stuff like that. But I’d say I’m 50-50. I think it can be good, (and) it can be bad.”
“It’s good and bad. It’s raising money. The money’s always good. But then, at the same time, you get caught with some jackasses that have a habit of gambling off the court, and you mix that in sometimes. The league is already cracking down on a few guys. But that kind of gave our league a little bit of a black eye.”
“I think bad. But they’re in the business of making money. So good. Just being honest!”
“It gives the fans something to look forward to, but they be doing too much. They think it’s all about stats. It’s 50/50. I’m not against it. Yeah, I’m with it. I ain’t mad at it.”
“I mean, it’s good from a business perspective. From a moral perspective, probably not. But to grow the business, I would say it’s good.”
“Obviously, viewership will go up. They watch more because they’ve got money on the game. But also, it’s kind of bad for the game because now people are showing up calling you out your name when you don’t get one more assist. So it’s like, yeah, it’s good for the viewership. But also, the humanity piece of it kind of f—- with the players.”
“It’s tough, because it’s business at the end of the day. If they’re going to do that, why be so strict on us? But I get it, point shaving and things of that nature that can go into making the game nasty. But at the end of the day, it’s just about money.”
“Both. Gambling allows us to make more money. But at the same time, you get less real fans who are just trying to make money, who are really just losing money.”
“It obviously brings more revenue. But it’s also bad because people already look at us as entertainers, and then with gambling, they look at us (as) less than a human; more like my money-making market.”
“I mean, it’s good from a business perspective. From a moral perspective, probably not. But to grow the business, I would say it’s good.”
“It’s good because it’s more fun for fans. But it can be bad because we, as players, get all the hate.”
“From a business side, I’m sure it’s good. I just think the players hate the backlash they receive for not hitting parlays. But I think it’s probably good for business.”
(Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
