the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
December 8, 2025
A big part of what’s thrilling about sports is that you don’t know what will happen. Teamwork is electric. Opponents all have talent, discipline, and determination. But the October arrest of National Basketball Association player Terry Rozier and others was a warning that online gambling has corrupted sports.
Federal prosecutors say Rozier faked an injury during a game in 2023 after telling associates he would. They were able to win bets on his bad performance during the game. Prosecutors say these actions violated federal laws and licensed gambling policies.
Gambling and cheating have always existed in sports, but not at today’s crisis levels. Professional leagues like the NBA let online gambling companies run betting on their games after the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that sports gambling is legal. Smart phones let viewers and players place bets practically instantaneously, not just on the outcome of a game, but even on the details of an individual player’s performance during a game. Will they miss a shot? Will they get injured? Click.
Almost half of men under 50 have an online sportsbook account, and so do many women, especially college athletes. Young people whose brains are still developing are especially vulnerable. But so are athletes, competitive by aptitude and often acting on impulse.
The total amount of money bet on sports shot up from under five billion dollars in 2017 to over 121 billion dollars in 2023. Around a tenth of that is profit.
Whatever happens in Rozier’s and other cases, the gambling companies won’t fix anything. The leagues will not do anything, either. They benefit from the attention online gambling brings them. But viewers are distracted from appreciating sports as sports. Athletes are distracted, and worse. This economic system based on profit corrupts everything.