Recently, an NBA player was banned from the league for life for a variety of gambling-related activities, and a personal assistant to the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball was charged with bank fraud in relation to gambling losses said to exceed $40 million. These sorts of incidents have called further attention to how integrated betting is with spectator sports, though it is not like anyone who watches them could be ignorant of it. Gambling companies are among the main sponsors of sports media, and their ads run constantly during broadcasts, telling us to “get in the game,” as though betting were a way to emulate the players in competition and better align our intensity with theirs. Gamblers can make wagers at any given moment on a wide range of possible outcomes related to individual and team performance, and play-by-play announcers are even compelled to provide updated odds throughout their broadcasts as though it were no different from any other statistics they might provide for context. Sports books are beginning to nestle next to stadiums and arenas, and one assumes it is only a matter of time before betting windows will be open on the concourse, just like at the racetrack.
Borges’ Lottery in Babylon