Betting In The Age Of Coronavirus Could Be The Sign Of A Problem

With Coronavirus shutting down the majority of sports leagues and events, there’s a severe shortage of opportunities to bet.  But that doesn’t mean people have stopped gambling. And that’s led to a discussion on what it says about the people still betting, like bettors who forayed into table tennis betting and wagering on soccer matches in Belarus during the covid lockdown.

Howard Stutz, the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports, recently penned an article expressing the opinion that people betting on table tennis, sumo wrestling, and Tiger King episodes are high-risk of having a gambling problem.

ESPN’s David Purdum had a different take. Seeing it as a bit of good fun for most people who are in desperate need of entertainment.

I do not believe what event one chooses to bet on–no matter how obscure–is symptomatic of problem gambling.

Problem gambling is about how one bets, their ability to do so responsibly and their ability to stop when appropriate.

— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) April 5, 2020

This is a complicated discussion, and not every bettor is going to fit neatly into either category.

That said, anyone wagering on events they are wholly unfamiliar with or would never normally watch should dissect why they’re still betting.

But Can You Stop?

There’s a longstanding debate over the skill elements of different forms of gambling.

Most people will try to quantify the skill of a game by looking at decisions you make as skillful. Unfortunately, deluded people can trick themselves into thinking that number patterns or lucky seats are skillful decisions. I use a more straightforward test to determine if a gambling game is skillful: Can you lose on purpose?

If you can’t lose on purpose, the game has no skill.

Once you place your wager at a roulette table, you have no control over the outcome. That’s not the case with blackjack or video poker where you place bets that then impact the outcome.

That doesn’t mean the game is beatable, merely that the game has an element of skill. 

I use the same determination when it comes to addiction. Can you not do something?

It’s not a matter of, “I can quit drinking whenever I want, but I don’t have a problem, so there’s no reason for me not to have this drink.” Or, “I bet because it adds to my enjoyment of a sporting event.” It’s too easy to delude yourself into thinking a problem doesn’t exist, even if it’s only the seed of a problem.

Basically, the hypothetical statement that I can quit whenever I want is rarely tested. But at this moment in time, it is being tested for sports bettors. With everything shut down, it should be easy not to bet.

So Why Are You Still Betting?

People searching out things to bet on should take a step back and examine why.

Are you betting because you’re looking for any sport to watch, and it adds to your enjoyment of watching them? Or are you betting on them because you need to bet on something? Because you have to be in action?

At that point you’re not controlling your betting behavior; your bets are controlling you. Even if they are the harmless $10 and $20 bets described by Purdum and Rotstein, it’s still a seed that your habit could be developing into an addiction. And that addiction could scale up in the future.

To be clear, I’m not saying wagering on these events is the sign of a problem gambler, but a warning sign of a problem is wagering on these events.

Distinctions Between Bets

I’m going to make a distinction between ninth and tenth tier sports and esports and virtual sports, as well as the proposed creative events like games of HORSE with NBA players.

I see these as less harmful.

The reason being, esports, virtual sports, and creative events already have a following and feature participants people know well and would be interested in watching. Point being, there is already or would be considerable interest in these events even if the professional sports leagues were still up and running.

On the other hand, betting on events with unknown leagues or participants, or worse, sports you don’t even know the rule sets for is more likely to be motivated by the need to gamble. And if true, that means these events will attract a higher percentage of problem and at-risk gamblers.

As I posited on Twitter:

There are a thousand time sinks, some free, some not. Betting on table tennis isn't a sign of a problem, but it's a flag. It signals the need to bet on something, anything. Not everyone betting is a PG, but I wouldnt be surprised if a disproportionate amount of them are PGs.

— Steve Ruddock (@SteveRuddock) April 5, 2020