Bulls players, coaches frustrated by sports gambling: ‘It takes away the purity of the game’
CHICAGO — In the six years since the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the NBA has embraced the new addition to basketball culture with open arms. And if this year is any predictor, the influence of sports betting in basketball will only grow throughout the coming seasons.
But this past week has served as a warning for sports leagues throughout the country — from stars like MLB’s Shohei Ohtani
Forward DeMar DeRozan described the main development simply: “You’re getting more fans talking crazy to you because you’re messing up their parlays.”
to bench players like the NBA’s Jontay Porter, the rise of legal gambling ushers in problems as it does profit.
For Chicago Bulls players, the proliferation of sports gambling has shifted the dynamic of being a professional athlete — both on the internet and on the court.
DeRozan said he has never had an interest in betting. So he was initially confused when he began to see fans bring signs to games listing the over/under for the night’s betting lines. In recent years, it’s become commonplace to hear fans shout from the stands — complaints about a busted parlay or pleas to miss a free throw to make the under.
This was an adjustment for players across the league. Nikola Vučević said he felt a similar surprise when several fans sent him requests for money on Venmo after losing prop bets on games. (Vučević has since made his Venmo account private.)
“It’s inevitable,” Vučević said. “People like it. They do it. You just have to understand that you’re going to bring in some people that don’t actually care for the actual sport and for the integrity of it. They just care for the money, for the betting. If you’re OK with that, it’s fine. But you’ve got to be ready for the negativity that’s going to come with it.”
For the NBA, striking a balance with betting goes beyond fans. That became sharply clear this week following an ESPN report that Porter is under investigation by the league for allegedly manipulating his performances for the Toronto Raptors to fulfill prop bets throughout the season.
“Any time you bring that into the game, there’s always going to be potential problems,” Bulls coach Billy Dono
