Trending
At 12 a.m. this morning, sports betting officially became legal in the state of Ohio.
At 12:01, I placed my first bet of the new year -- Bills money line.
As a New York native, and a Pennsylvania resident before moving to Ohio, I was more than excited about this moment. It just brings another layer of excitement to sporting events that wasn't present before.
No rooting interest in a game between UCLA and Washington tonight? Place five dollars on the Bruins and see what you can win.
Do you have some confidence in DeShaun Watson today? Throw a few bucks on the over for his passing yards and maybe add a few more dollars to your bank account.
I've been around sports my whole life, and I've also been around sports gamblers for a majority of it as well, and let me tell you what, it brings a lot of ups and downs. There's nothing like being rewarded for your team winning a game after you placed some faith in them. But, there's also a little more disappointment when they come out on the losing end. I feel like that happens when there isn't any money on the line, so imagine losing some money as well.
Now, although I'm in favor of sports betting becoming legal in Ohio, I can see why there are some that can be opposed to it. There's always been a stigma around it since I was a kid, and even before that, based on how it could affect the integrity of the game because there have been examples of it in the past.
There's the Black Sox scandal where eight members of the Chicago White Sox, most notably Shoeless Joe Jackson, were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.
Then, there's Pete Rose. Everyone knows the Pete Rose story. Finally, you can look at the recent situations in the NFL where both Atlanta Falcons receiver Calvin Ridley and New York Jets assistant coach Miles Austin were issued fines and suspended for placing sports bets.
While obtaining my master's degree at Arizona State University, I had the opportunity to take a class where former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was a lecturer each week. He talked about several topics over the course of the semester, but one week revolved around betting in sports. Selig admitted that if he was still the commissioner, he would never allow a franchise to be placed in Las Vegas because of the stigma and how it could affect the image of his sport.
Now, look where we are. There are sports books in arenas and stadiums around the country and the phenomenon is only going to grow. It can become a multi-billion dollar business, if it isn't already, and it doesn't seem to show any signs of stopping.
So if you're thinking about getting involved, let's talk about a few things.
First, be smart.
Just like playing poker, or gambling at the casino, it can be dangerous. Unfortunately, I've seen first hand how it can alter or ruin a person's life if you get in too deep. So, just remember that.
Secondly, let's go over some vocabulary so you have an idea of what you're getting into and what you can bet on.
Let's talk about the moneyline. It's one of the simplest forms of sports betting and is basically a straight bet on who will win a game or a contest. If you think the Browns are beating the Commanders today, throw a few dollars on the moneyline.
There's also the spread, which basically exists to even up the contest. Rather than betting on the actual outcome of the game, you're betting on the score difference. So for example, if you bet on the Browns-Commanders game today, the Commanders are favored to win by two points. If you bet the spread in favor of the Commanders and they win by just a point or lose, then you would lose your bet. This can sometimes come into play when teams are favored by a huge margin and sports bettors will wage whether or not their teams can cover the spread because of the odds involved.
Let's now talk about the over/under. This can come into play for several different things. Total points in a game, total rushing yards, total goals scored, total touchdowns scored, total assists, total halftime points and if you get a little wild, you can probably bet on the number of times someone on the sidelines does something pretty obscure. One of the more popular ones is the length of the national anthem, especially before the Super Bowl. There's basically a time or a value that will be set, and you can bet on whether the final value will be higher or lower.
Finally, another basic bet, and one of my favorites, is the parlay, which is betting on a string of events all to happen. The more legs usually mean the higher odds. These are the bets you'll more than likely see on social media where a bettor strings together a number of different events to win a large sum of money.
Depending on the platform, you can normally string together all the leagues, picking one or two games from each league, or a few statistic-based bets. I normally like to throw together a touchdown scorer parlay each Sunday and will pick a few NFL players who I think will score. In my eyes, as I said, it just adds a little more excitement to games you might not usually pay attention to.
For a sports lover, that's the dream.
We're entering a new era in Ohio and I hope you're ready for it because it's going to be fun.
Maybe those nonstop targeted ads will stop now too.
Happy New Year everyone!
gmacafee@tribtoday.com