The gambling products he encountered were not harmless entertainment. They stripped away Ollie's enjoyment of the game he loved so much. They were highly addictive, predatory systems designed to exploit. And they did. They stole from Ollie - not only his money, but his peace, his future, and ultimately, his life.
When new forms of gambling appear, the rate of savings go down, then you see the rate of credit card defaults going up. And you see the rate of mortgage defaults going up. So these are long-term financial and societal costs with broad implications,
Before each game, Furones and Perkins will select a "Best Bet" and a "Longshot." The "Best Bet" selection is a near 50-50 proposition while the "Longshot" is at least +300 or a 3-to-1 probability. They don't place dollar amounts on their bets, but you're welcome to wager as much as you can afford. Furones is 9-7 on his "Best Bets" while Perk is 3-13. On the "Longshot," Furones is 5-11 and Perk has slumped to 3-13.
Leading the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns through 16 weeks, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford might be closing in on the first MVP award of his storied career; going into Saturday of Week 17, the 37-year-old has a commanding -360 odds lead to win NFL MVP, according to DraftKings. Stafford began the campaign with +3500 odds to earn the NFL's highest individual honor, and slowly crept his way up the odds board, commensurate with his consistently excellent play and the Rams' continued dominance of the NFC.
Bowl season is like betting a game of musical chairs where the music stops at kickoff. Lines are flying, rosters are leaking, coaches are packing boxes and seven-point swings show up before you've finished your coffee. Chasing steam is how a good process turns into bad bets. If you don't get the best of the number, let it go. There are more bowls, a playoff, the NFL and entire new seasons waiting. Discipline beats FOMO every time.
The NBA is attempting to reduce the value of inside information and combat performance manipulation as it reacts to the federal indictments of a current player, a head coach and former player in gambling cases, according to a memo sent to all teams Friday. The league is considering potential policy changes to address tanking, increase the frequency of injury reporting and restrict what sportsbooks offer, according to the memo.
Four players have been banned from all football-related activity for several years for their part in match-fixing offences in Australia's A-League. Kearyn Baccus and ex-New Zealand international Clayton Lewis were paid A$10,000 (4,940) each to get themselves booked during Macarthur FC's game against Sydney FC in December 2023. Both were sentenced to a two-year conditional release order, external in September and have now been banned for five years by Football Australia, effective from May 2024.
Digital platforms, gamification and prop betting are driving this boom, he says. A former Ohio State football player, Borchers argues the influx in gambling threatens the integrity of college sports and risks athletes' mental and emotional health. Name, image and likeness payments, combined with media revenue-sharing, contribute to a new reality for college sports that is more transactional than ever, with huge sums of money flowing in and out.
First, analytics writer Seth Walder breaks down three stat trends that could be pivotal this weekend. Then, fantasy writer Eric Moody highlights five players who are rostered in less than 50% of ESPN leagues as of Saturday and could be started in a jam. That's followed by NFL analyst Ben Solak's three potential surprises, NFL analyst Matt Bowen's key matchup to watch and sports betting analyst Pamela Maldonado's favorite bet for Week 15.
At one point in the game's final drive, the Raiders ran a pass play that ended with receiver Tyler Lockett being tackled inbounds with just eight seconds left. That should've ended the game, but a defender was flagged for a delay of game penalty when he jumped on Lockett and didn't immediately let him get up. This stopped the clock, allowing the Raiders to kick a 46-yard field goal to make the final score 24-17.
The world's largest prediction market platform is returning to the U.S. On Wednesday, Polymarket posted on X that users can get on the waitlist for its app, saying the company will start by offering sports betting, with "markets on everything" to follow. Polymarket's impending return to the U.S. comes at a time when prediction market services, including Kalshi and Robinhood, are challenging the likes of DraftKings and FanDuel for a share of the lucrative sports betting market,
It could be minimal or it could be significant depending on which personnel and staff follow him out the door. The point spread will certainly be affected, but the bigger shift may come in offensive efficiency. With a defensive-minded coach likely taking the reins, expect the total to trend lower.
In any given year there are more than 500,000 American boys playing on almost 20,000 high school basketball teams, and fewer than 2% of them will make it to March Madness. Only 60 young men get drafted by an NBA team each summer, and in the most recent draft a third of those spots went to international players. The numbers suggest the funnel from the Amateur Athletic Union into the NBA is one of the narrowest in all of sports.
