When it comes to sports betting, prop bets are incredibly popular. And, for sportsbooks, incredibly profitable.
For players, they can also be problematic. That’s because gamblers who lose when betting on a player to surpass one or more of the player’s overs will direct complaints to the players who failed to deliver.
Via ESPN, the Major League Baseball Players Association has proposed to Major League Baseball a ban on prop betting as to individual players, in an effort to counter harassment from bettors.
The MLBPA also has suggested a joint lobbying effort aimed at securing a ban on all individual player prop bets by sportsbooks, prediction markets, and daily fantasy operators.
It’s a significant request. Per ESPN, prop bets can account for 20 to 30 percent of the total amount wagered on a given game. (Frankly, it’s a surprise that the number isn’t higher.)
Prop bets transform human beings into the dice on the craps table, the steel ball on the roulette wheel. A losing gambler would come off as completely deranged if the gambler screams at the dice for failing to land on the right numbers. It’s less unreasonable (but still unreasonable) to direct vitriol to a player who failed to hit a home run.
Still, it’s hard to imagine the sportsbooks and/or prediction markets sacrificing a cash cow. The horse (to continue the farming metaphor) is too far out of the barn. And too much of the billion-dollar business model is tied not only to bets made on teams but also to bets made on specific players.
It’s almost as if no one bothered to think these issues through before commencing the money grab. Which, you know, is exactly what happened.
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