Sports betting is more ubiquitous in the NBA today than ever before. Indiana Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton knows about it. In fact, it has come to a point, at least from his perspective, that players are being reduced closer to mere pawns by people whose main objective when watching games is to check if their bets are winning.
Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton Speaks Up About Impact Of Sports Betting On Players
Haliburton recently opened up about how speaking with a sports psychologist helps him cope with the rigors of playing in the NBA. He also shared how it feels for him to be a target of frustrated bettors who often blame them for lost wagers
Via James Boyd of The Athletic:
To half the world, I’m just helping them make money on DraftKings or whatever. I’m a prop. You know what I mean? That’s what my social media mostly consists of. I think it’s important for us to have somebody to talk to. And I think all of that stuff, it can be funny sometimes when somebody’s like, ‘I lost $1,000.’ I don’t give a fuck. But I do think that it’s important for us to just have conversations with people who really value who we are as human beings. And it’s not just the sports psychologist. It’s our teammates. It’s our loved ones. It’s people who really look out for our wellbeing, and that’s important for me to just have those constant conversations.”
Regardless of how Haliburton views sports betting, it’s not going to go away. It’s big business. Fans, casual or not, engage more with the sports they follow or watch when betting comes into the mix – even the NBA profits from it by way of advertising. And in a capitalist-driven world, money is always going to be king.
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