Legalised Sports Betting – One More Boat To Hades

I do not proclaim to be an angel, but gambling is one of the things which I don’t agree with. Gambling was etched into the commandments as one of the seven deadly sins in Christianity for many reasons. legalising sports gambling is, thus, akin to supplying another speedboat to the frying pan.

Currently we already have a few legal gambling outlets for fellow non-muslim Malaysians to trash their savings and delve into financial crisis. Then, jolly-ho! The government actually thought of adding another … one which I deem more dangerous than the existing outlets. 

One might ask, “Isn’t gambling something normal among Chinese?” That is something I cannot deny but gambling back in the olden days was a form of entertainment using a combination of skill, intelligence and chance; not blind guessing of coordinates as a way to earn or supplement a living.

Now, legalised gambling has been reduced to lottery, which leaves success entirely to Lady Luck. It is now become an easy way out. Typical hopes: win a big lottery and never have to work again.

Such a mentality only promotes laziness, leaving results to chance rather than hard work, industriousness and creativity. Making another form of gambling legal only helps to kill these traits as well as increase the statistics of suicide cases, broken families and debtors.

Just at the end of last month there was a feature on one man’s personal story of how his family became addicted to gambling. It started with his father taking up the habit, and in the end he succumbed to it as well. You could blame it on his lack of self-control, but there is proven studies of how children tend to become victims of the same destructive habit of their parents such as alcoholism and abuse.

When a problem has become bad enough, there will be a rehabilitation centre for that problem. The Gamblers’ Rehab Centre in Kuala Lumpur was set up because the problems caused by habitual gambling are so widespread and destructive that victims of this addiction need serious aid.

In my opinion, sports betting can exact a higher toll than other forms of betting because of the illusion of secure guessing. There is an assumption by gamblers that they would have an almost sure way of winning because they have knowledge of the players and the sport. They assume that they can make an intelligent, reliable and almost sure prediction of which team would win.

Due to this illusion, they place much higher bets than what they would normally spend for the lottery. I have heard of low income earners spending up to thousands in a single bet with the illegal syndicates and losing everything.

The reality is that sports betting is just as unpredictable as the lottery. There are factors that are beyond the gambler’s control. A key player could become injured, altering the chances of the team winning. Or worse still, walk out from the team! … FIFA fans know which one I’m talking about.

Corruption prevails everywhere, even in sports. Only those who are born yesterday can think that there is no possibility of referees being bribed. Even players can be bought off to not perform as well as they should. legalising sports betting is like fuel to the already burning corrupted coals hidden by the façade of worldwide sportsmanship.

It is a good thing the government, after the public outcry, decided to change its mind and stopped the issuance of the sports betting licence. Let us hope that decision stays, for the good of our community.