“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes,” sang John Prine in his ebony-black heroin anthem “Sam Stone.” Today, it might be, less poetically, an app on daddy’s smartphone. In 2021, casino operator Bally’s acquired an interest in several California-based regional sports networks then owned by media conglomerate Sinclair, with plans to enhance viewer engagement through targeted betting advertisements and, eventually, integrated betting. This strategy, however, was contingent on a 2022 ballot initiative to legalize sports betting in the state. However, the initiative failed, leading to the bankruptcy of the newly created Bally Sports division in 2023. The failure of Bally Sports offers a stark example of how intertwined sports content and gambling interests are becoming, as well as the precarious nature of the sports broadcasting business model, which is increasingly gambling its own future on projections of ever-increasing revenues from bettors. Even the New York Times has a dedicated “betting hub” smack dab in the header of its sports content vertical, the Athletic.
Gambling has always been a part of organized athletics, though historically, it was kept at arm’s length. To bet on the game or the match or the race, you’d have to find a bookie or go to one of a few designated seedy spots or sin cities. Lately, though, the integration of the two has seen them closer than ever before and with more explicit and official connections, not only casting a shadow over the joy and excitement of high-level athletic competition but utterly eclipsing it.
