Gambling on HS sports
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Earlier this year The Dallas Morning News ran a story about how internet gambling Web site 5dimes.com was taking wagers on the Sept. 15 high school footbal game between Southlake Carroll and Miami Northwestern. The Web site had SC as an 8-point favorite. The final score: Northwestern 29, Carroll 21.
This opens a can of worms. No, not who is the best team in the nation, but who would want to bet on high school football? How desperate for a gambling fix must someone be to lay down cash on a HS football game? Or a Little League Softball game, which the Web site also offered.
The gambling Web site stopped taking bets on the game and on the LLSWS after the DMN story ran. According to DMN Staff Writer David Hinojosa:
Officials from Carroll and Florida were outraged when it found out Wednesday that the Web site was offering the game for wagering. The company also accepted wagers for Wednesday’s Little League Softball World Series (for 12-year-old girls) championship between Elgin, Texas, and Morristown, Tenn.
‘We have decided not to enter into this moral debate, and we’ve decided to take the game off the board,’ said Rommel Johnson, the Web site’s customer service director.
Johnson said the company will no longer offer betting lines for high school football and Little League baseball and softball.
I’m glad the Web site ‘decided no to enter into this moral debate.’ What a joke.
I have no problem with the ‘friendly’ wager, so let’s not take it there, but I have a huge issue with people making money off of kids who are not even old enough to earn money.
I’m glad the Web site decided to stop taking bets on the game, but I want all Web sites to stop taking bets or making lines available for high school sports.
And if you, reading this, are gambling on high school games, stop. Losing your life savings on the Servite-Mater Dei game is not worth it, plus hard to explain to your wife, significant other or parents.
As for the game it self, apparently it was a classic because ESPNU will re-air the game three times: at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, 1:30 a.m. Thursday and 2 p.m. Thursday. I don’t have ESPNU, but I bet one of you guys does.
- Jaime Cardenas