It’s not unusual to hear of high school boys getting into trouble because they’ve lost a car or are indebted in the millions. Welcome to the world of game betting, where betters might be students but the finances involved are nothing but small time.
Sports betting has a profound impact on the way a game is played, particularly games which involve heavy officiating and games with more players involved. In the game of basketball, sports betting has controversially been deeply involved in doubts and controversies in professional and even collegiate leagues.
The problem isn’t as well explored in leagues such as the National Basketball Association (NBA), but that’s likely because of the high salaries NBA basketball players get anyway. Sports betting actually makes its presence more felt in the local level, particularly in the collegiate leagues that are so popular.
Take for example, in the Philippines. The University Athletics Association of the Philippines, or the UAAP is one of the more, or the most popular non-professional league in the country. And as its popularity rose, so did the controversies that continue to cloud and surround it.
Never has there been a year where accusations of game throwing and game fixing have not been thrown around. Many times, individual players and even coaches get flack for those accusations. The deed is so well-protected by powerful people and so lucrative that even after several seasons of accusations being thrown everywhere, nothing has really happened to change anything.
The difficult part about sports betting is that it puts young people in the shadow of doubt. Many athletes are playing in universities for a shot at free education and a possible money-making basketball career in the future. One allegation of point shaving or game fixing and that potentially bright future is suddenly thrown out the window.
Accusations become very intense in the Philippines. Officiating is also a very common weak point in the basketball games. In fact, even more allegations are thrown around game officiat5ing in the season. See, basketball, like many other team games, has the potential to be controlled by the officials who regulate the game. After all, the fouls and free throws rewarded by the officials could just as well dictate whether one team wins and another loses. The intensity of the accusations and intrigues involved in those collegiate games have reaches an intensity which requires public officials to try to intervene in the process.
The game is arguably ruined by the controversies brought about by sports betting. Officials, players and fans alike all have everything at stake when it comes to sports and sports betting. Betters have a lot at stake too, as it is not unusual to have young and naive young adults involving themselves in the tangled web of sport betting.
But the various stakeholders are doing their best to remedy the situation; loyalty-checks are being done on players and alumni offer to safeguard the young athletes and players to make sure that none of them are infiltrated by sports betters. At the end of the day, the game will survive because more than the big wigs in the betting circle, the lovers of the game will do everything to make it survive.
