#Sports betting coverage getting more mainstream each year

I have my “Press” hat on after spending Tuesday morning on the “Best Practices for Covering Sports Gambling” panel at the AP Sports Editors conference at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. 

I shared how I started my journalism career in the Chicago suburbs dreaming of being the Bears’ beat writer and how a 1990 trip to nearby Arlington Park, which is sadly on its last legs, introduced me to horse racing and gambling — and eventually turned me to the dark side of sports betting journalism when very few were covering the industry. If we had held a sports betting writers convention at the turn of the century, we could have held it in my Saturn (how’s that for a historical reference?). 

I also believed, however, that sports betting was a legitimate beat, as much as covering any team or other part of the sports world. That’s how I’ve treated it in my stints at the Daily Racing Form and on my own ViewFromVegas.com website, ESPN.com and VSiN.com. Though sports betting was legal only in Nevada until the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that all states could decide for themselves, interest was always high in how Vegas viewed sports in regard to futures book odds and individual game lines. 

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports editor Bill Bradley moderated the panel and gave Brent Musburger credit for launching VSiN as the first all-sports betting network in 2017. We were joined by Todd Dewey of the Review-Journal; Patrick Everson, formerly of Covers.com and soon to be starting a new gig in the burgeoning sports betting world; and Doug Kezirian of ESPN Daily Wager and ESPN.com/chalk. 

We all shared from our perspectives how the industry has come to this point and how we don’t see its expansion slowing soon. I made the point that the pandemic slowed growth only slightly, but it is picking up again. We’ve all seen the sports world change to the point at which it’s no longer surprising to see point spreads streaming across the bottom of our TV screens, and those odds and the Over/Unders no longer need to be whispered vaguely under your breath, as Musburger and Al Michaels used to do. 

As football season nears, we’ll also see an avalanche of sports betting shows on TV and radio as well as online. It was so exciting to see and hear so many sports editors from around the country interested in devoting staff to sports betting coverage in their states — especially where it’s legal. But even papers in other states see the interest in adding at least some sports betting content to their more traditional coverage. 

Who’s game? 

I was thrilled to receive a promo Monday from the New York Post that read, “Gaming can burn 200 calories an hour.” For a long time, the casino industry has used gaming as a euphemism for gambling, and I thought this story had to be great news, especially with my wife always giving me a hard time for spending my whole day on the computer. 

So imagine my disappointment when I clicked the link and the actual full headline read, “Video gamers may burn 200 calories in one hour of play: study.” It wasn’t about gambling at all. 

I believe I get far more exercise from my daily involvement with sports betting than any gamer I’ve ever seen. You all know how you feel after watching an exciting game — it’s like you’ve been through a three-hour cardio workout! So who’s with me as we get in shape for football betting season?