Make Sports Betting 100 Percent Legal Now

A recent New York Times article documented that Internet gambling site Betfair.com has been at the forefront of policing match fixing in numerous sports. According to the Times, BetFair shared red-flag betting patterns with governing bodies in various sports “leading to investigations in horse racing, soccer and now tennis” 

As gambling rights advocates have been preaching for years, professional sports leagues and the NCAA would be wise to partner with sportsbooks if, and I emphasize if, they truly want to prevent their games from being fixed.

One cannot help but wonder if the American sports leagues’ gambling policy is similar to the steroid scandal: hear no evil, see no evil.

It is due time that governing bodies in the United States sports and legislative branches decriminalize and embrace the legitimate activity of sports betting.

I know this will come as a surprise that our elected officials are instead moving backwards, but as shocking as it may seem, counterproductivity is their modus operandi.

First, the House passed legislation that is designed to prevent you from using your credit to place a bet and may even block out websites that have the audacity to take that wager. Didn’t our own government lambaste China for doing the same thing?

A few years ago, by a 6-3 margin, the Supreme Court said it’s okay to have “virtual” child pornography because it was simulated. Simulating one of the most atrocious and vile crimes known to humankind is legally protected.  Reproducing the experience of a Vegas casino on your home computer is not.

Predators have privacy rights that bettors do not. Ah, but at least our children are shielded from poker players.

Republicans out of the right side of their mouth preach personal responsibility.  They also sing the virtues of implementing new ways to create tax revenue instead of simply raising taxes.  Then out of the other right side of their mouth, they demand a crackdown on online gambling because you are too stupid to know gambling is the axis of all evil.

Democrats sermonize about privacy.  You should be able to do whatever you want in the privacy of your own bedroom as long as you don’t double down on 11. Out of the other left side of their mouth, many support the Prohibition of the new century: betting.

What kind of country do we live in when there is a greater outcry for the alleged privacy rights of suspected terrorists who are not even citizens of the United States, yet minimal indignation when your basic civil right to put your money where you mouth is becomes under attack from our own elected bureaucracy?

The stuffed suits use the hackneyed “slippery slope” riposte, stooping to fear mongering in lieu of actual facts. They talk about uncertainties of fully legalized gambling leading to a progression of addiction.  There goes that kooky expectation of individual accountability.

However, we know our civil servants would never be hypocritical, so surely we can outlaw other addictive vices such as alcohol (again), credit cards, video games (not because they are addicting, just because too many are idiotic), and cheesesteaks.  Oh, and what is more addictive than Laura Dhue, the blonde who puts the “fox” in Fox News? What in the name of Bill Frist are we waiting for?  Outlaw Laurie Dhue now before I max out my credit cards buying any more HDTVs and VCRs so I can have all Laurie, all the time.  

The US will never catch Osama Bin Laden, but they got their big fish: David Carruthers, CEO of previously unknown terrorist group BetOnSports. Reports say they are linked to an insurgency organization known as Millennium Sports.

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