Gambling in sport is readily on the increase.  Is it taking the fun out of sport? To some people sport is an addiction, a thrill, enjoyment for all the family.  However, there is a darker side to sport in the form of gambling.

There have always been sports which attract a large amount of betting; in fact, horse racing is built around bookmakers deciding the odds, and crowds of people gather to place their wagers.  It is pointless to have horse racing without the betting.  Who wants to go and watch a group of horses run around in the cold and rain if not to try to win some money? Nobody. But who are the real winners? The bookies and betting exchanges!

Betting exchanges can't lose. The ordinary public bet against each other's odds and the betting exchange such as Betfair takes a commission on whoever 'backs' or 'lays' the result.  True, bookmakers can lose on certain days but they claim it back as foolish punters begin to think their luck is never ending. Stupid fools. Gambling is trouble.

'Gambling is a threat to the integrity of sport, and a threat to society'


Nowadays most if not all sports can be bet on. You can bet on football in so many ways, not only win, lose or draw. You can bet on the correct score, the half-time score, who scores the first goal, the time of the last goal and even how many yellow cards are given in the match. It's a crazy world.  And of course there is no such thing as a certainty.

How many times have you seen a 90th-minute equaliser scored, just like Tim Cahill's last-gasp saver for Everton at Chelsea, a tennis player come back from 6-1, 5-0 down to win, a horse come from nowhere to win at 100-1. Just think how the heartbreak punters feel when they lose their bets to performances like those just mentioned.

And of course there are always a few 'cheats' in the world of sport. Recently we have seen problems with Nikolay Davydenko supposedly throwing matches, dodgy referees in basketball and, most famously, Kieren Fallon's ongoing court case concerning bet 'fixing' in over 40 horse races over an extended time period. 

How can we trust our sports stars 100 per cent? How do we know who is 'clean' or not? Why do we put our money in these sports stars' hands? We do it because gambling is an addiction. Just like drugs, alcohol and cigarettes addict millions each day, so does sports gambling.  However, it is very rarely mentioned.  You almost never see a racing commentator try to dissuade viewers from betting because it could cause you to become an addict.  We are all warned about the harmful affects of smoking and drinking accessively, but rarely about losing our money.

The increase in on-line gambling is a major threat to punters.  The ease of access to a computer and the ease of withdrawing money from your credit card on-line, placing bets from your bedroom without anyone knowing is leading to a nation of secret gambling, a hobby that can change into an obsession.

The Internet allows bookmakers to tempt punters with thousands more chances to win money from sport around the world. Ten years ago people would have a bet on the football pools but now you can bet on football 24/7 from matches in Brazil to Singapore.  The Internet has allowed gambling to be more reachable to the public. 

Gambling is a threat to the integrity of sport, and a threat to society. Sport needs to become a source of entertainment again, but with so much money involved, who really knows the outcome?