Idk if it's a coincidence, but since F1 and MotoGP have been bought by Liberty Media, they started featuring prominent betting statistics before the start of the race.
It's disgusting.
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I don't agree with her at all (I am pro sports betting and other betting), but I do admire her for standing up for what she believes in. Rare today
We're going to look at the normalization of gambling, especially online, as a huge mistake.
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I’m not opposed to sports betting on its own, but I am absolutely appalled at how much it’s bastardized everything.
It’s one thing if it’s in small doses and you can sort of just ignore it. It’s another thing when EVERY FUCKING SITE AND PLATFORM has gambling odds, gambling ads, gambling sponsors. Etc. You can’t blink without these predators trying to siphon money from people.
If I were a recovering gambling addict and sports fan id be heartbroken right now.
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The world has embraced decadence. Things that were once considered distasteful or brutish have become mainstream.
UFC is one example. Sports betting another.
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Good for her. It's incredibly difficult to walk away from a job like that and a job that she's had for so long.
So it came as a shock to many people, including Nicole Noren, a longtime ESPN producer, when ESPN licensed its name to a gambling app in 2023. By then, ESPN, like so many sports outlets, was promoting betting at virtually every opportunity; now it would encourage fans to use ESPN Bet. The app, which stood to generate a billion and a half dollars for the network over ten years, proved to be an embarrassing flop. But it was promptly replaced by a partnership with DraftKings, the sports gambling giant. These days, DraftKings ads blanket ESPN coverage, and this past March the companies enabled customers to link their ESPN and DraftKings accounts. It’s a partnership, a press release explained, “that goes beyond a traditional marketing arrangement, redefining how fans engage with sports.”
For Noren, ESPN Bet was the last straw. “I was out,” she told me. “I’m not going to work for a gambling company and have blood on my hands.” ESPN wasn’t an easy place to leave. Noren had worked there for twenty-four years, winning Emmy, Murrow, and Peabody awards, mainly for her work on Outside the Lines, the investigative newsmagazine. She was entrusted with some of the network’s most serious and sensitive reporting, involving topics such as gender-based violence, the mental health of college students, and concussions. With the NFL back in full swing—and ESPN preparing to carry its first-ever Super Bowl, in February—Noren spoke publicly for the first time about her own family’s experience with compulsive gambling. “Addiction dictated every part of our life,” she said. “It’s very, very personal to me.” Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
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I absolutely loath how ingrained it has become in sports. They have specific segments during half times about betting odds and there are banners everywhere for the various betting site.
To a lesser extent, I also hate what fantasy sports have done for various sports as well, mostly NFL. I don't think it's as bad as explicit gambling, but I just dgaf about anyone's fantasy scores, teams, or whatever. That they take time out to cover that shit is annoying and is amongst the various reasons I no longer watch the NFL after 30 years of watching the Packers religiously. The product as a whole is just not enjoyable anymore.
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Between this and scams entire generations of wealth are being siphoned off.
this encourages rigging of sports game, if its not already rigged.
It’s not making sports better that’s for sure.
Fastest growing addiction in America.
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maybe it will finally get fewer eople to care about sports
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