The Washington Post is reaffirming its stance that legalizing sports gambling in the United States has harmed society and has not fulfilled the intended advantages that its proponents claimed a regulated sports betting market would provide.
The WaPo Editorial Board is one of the most powerful opinion groups in the nation. The third-biggest newspaper in the United States and the most widely distributed paper in the Capital Beltway area is not supportive of legal sports wagering.
In a Monday op-ed named, “Legalizing Sports Gambling Was a Terrible Bet,” the 11 editors collectively expressed their disapproval of the spread of legal, regulated sportsbooks nationwide.
"With societal ills and sports scandals on the rise, Congress should rein in the betting industry,” the editorial opined.
The editorial asserts that sportsbooks have behaved recklessly by focusing on regular gamblers who tend to lose more frequently than they succeed. Individuals who win more often face restrictions or prohibitions.
“Legalized sports betting was supposed to enable gambling companies to identify and weed out problem bettors. Instead, the opposite has happened: High rollers who lose are targeted and courted as VIPs, showered with quick credit and other perks, and encouraged to gamble more — to ‘chase’ their losses, in industry parlance. Those who actually win big get limits imposed on how much they can bet,” the editorial read.
Severe Evaluation
In May 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that PASPA — the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act — breached anti-commandeering interpretations of the Constitution. The historic ruling granted states the authority to determine whether sports betting is permitted.
The gaming sector has successfully persuaded legislators and/or voters in 39 states along with Washington, D.C. Their argument was that legalized sports betting would eliminate the black market, generate job opportunities and tax income, enhance bettor protection with consumer safeguards, and help professional sports by boosting fan involvement. The Post states that the excitement has mostly been a disappointment.
“Many promised benefits, such as eliminating illegal betting, have been more modest than expected or have not materialized. State tax receipts from legal gambling have varied but often disappointed,” the editorial continued.
“Scandals have tainted professional sports. One out of three high-profile college athletes reports receiving abuse,” the opinion added.
WaPo: Congressional Measures Required
The Post editorial asserts that Congress needs to take action.
"There has been little or no movement in Congress since September 2018, when Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) warned at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing that ‘there are some people who will get hurt, and hurt very badly’ if Congress fails to act. It shouldn’t take another six years for those concerns, finally, to be heeded — and translated into national reform,” the editorial concluded.
That isn’t completely correct, since Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s (D-CT) SAFE Bet Act had a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. The law aims to establish a set of federal regulations for the sports betting sector.
They feature a prohibition on sports betting advertisements from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and throughout all live sports broadcasts, "affordability assessments" for high-volume gamblers, and a restriction on using credit cards for financing online sportsbook accounts.