Shocked

In a scene about midway through the 1942 classic film 'Casablanca' ( the single best movie to ever come out of Hollywood), Claude Rains (who plays the part of Captain Renault, Casablaca's corrupt but loveable prefect of police) is in the process of shutting down Rick's Cafe, where there is a back room where illegal gambling takes place.....

In truth, he is being leaned on by the Nazi overseers who are politically in control of Casablanca and are forcing him to close the cafe. And so, he does. However, in the process of all this, the croupier comes running up to Renault with a huge roll of bills , pressing them into his hand and reminding him, 'your winnings sir"

And so goes the story of gambling in sports, in America.

As long as there have been sports to bet on, people will bet on them. It goes back thousands of years. But what has always prevented it from coming too much to the forefront was the corruption of those policing the gambling, the corruption of those policing the games, and finally, the biggest farce of all - the idea that acknowledging gambling would compromise the ' integrity of the game'.

Uh huh. Right.

The myth that sports has offered ANY sort of integrity has long since washed away. Sports has no more integrity than politics. And like politics, it's all about the money. Politicians know it, sports business people know it - and now, you know it.

What happened with regard to the NBA card scheme, or point shaving, is just the starting point. The day professional sports married legalized gambling, the con deepened and grew.

So don't be the sucker - don't buy the con that the sports owners were caught by surprise or that somehow, this whole issue was a one off. It's all been anticipated, gamed and created so they big guys never lose control of the situation. All responses and CYA maneuvers have been completely rehearsed and expected.

The biggest question is - do you care? You, the one with multiple accounts on Fan Duel, Draft Kings, etc, etc. Do you care? Does it bother you one bit that you put up your money betting lines, props and parlays, only to know that it's all being gamed by the players themselves, along with a few bad actors. And the answer comes down to a simple case of 'I want'. If you want the chance to play badly enough, you don't care who's dirty. You'll take your best shot, right? . But if YOU DO CARE, because it's your money on the line, you want to know whether the guys you're betting on, are crooked. So it's this simple - you pays your money, you takes your chances. Period.

Gambling is in bed with professional sports and isn't giving any of that up. Too many people are making way too much booty cash, from the websites to the professional teams and leagues, to the politicians who got bought off to make this al happen. Gambling has opened the floodgates to all kinds of earning possibilities.

Oh sure, professional leagues will blow their whistles and shut down certain aspects of gambling when they're being forced to. They'll follow the protocol, just like Captain Renault did. But they will also be waiting for the croupier to slip THEIR cut into THEIR hands. And after the heat blows over, and they usual suspects are punished while others are not, it's back to business as usual.

Who said art doesn't imitate life.

I'm bradlee. Don't be the sucker at the table.