Former Dallas Mavericks exec talks about the high risk of NBA gambling: "Gamblers weren't listening to their favorite podcasters shilling same game parlays"

NBA
Thursday, 21 March 2024 at 16:00
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Former Dallas Mavericks executive Haralabos Voulgaris has warned the NBA about the impact of embracing betting.
A recent report from sports and business reporter Joe Pompliano stated that the NBA has decided to include the feature of live betting during the matches.
The 48-year-old made a lot of money from betting but in a series of posts on the social media platform X — previously known as Twitter, he explained how NBA management might regret their decision.
“This is brilliant, I'm sure everyone will love this until all their young fans who's frontal lobes aren't quite fully forrmed go broke and can't stand the thought of watching an NBA game,” he wrote.
“Honestly the NBA will look back in sheer horror that they shoved this much gambling down their customers throats. Some people want to watch the game with their young children and don't want to have them exposed to gambling at a young age. It worked out for me, it won't work out 99% of ppl I can promise you.”
Voulgaris, who started betting 25 years ago and managed to develop predictive models, further went on to argue that things have changed massively in the last two decades.
“I made my gambling $ in a different epoch. Where it was in the shadows, hidden in the dark,” he wrote while responding to a user on X. “Do you know how hard it was to be a gambler back then problem or otherwise? How much work you had to do to find a bookie, place a bet , make sure you got paid. It wasn't advertised it was murky and disguised.”
He further went on to write: “Guys who wanted to gamble and lose $ back then had a determination to do so, it wasn't shoved in their faces while they were watching games. They weren't walking around carrying a casino in their pocket. They weren't listening to their favorite podcasters shilling same game parlays.
“I am telling people to stop gambling now because its having a massive societal impact and its being promoted by the leagues. If that makes me a hypocrite so be it, I'll be fine if gambling is banned or limited I can promise you.”