Baseball Hypocracy - 501 Masters Level Symposium

[SouthSide_HitMen]

http://www.maurybrown.com/?p=104

Lottery Fever: Red Sox and others tap into lottery tickets.

In the age of Pete Rose’s banishment for life from baseball over gambling, and the recent internal policy that Las Vegas is off-limits for relocation or expansion until baseball is removed from the books, MLB quietly brokered the deal with a subsidiary of Scientific Games Corp. of New York to let team logos be used on instant tickets. The key seems to be, “It’s OK for fans, just not the players.”

And get ready, because this will become more the norm than the exception – the Yankees and Mets are next in line with, as the Boston Globe reports today (http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/03/28/state_to_roll_out_sox_scratch_tickets/), “dozens of teams are expected to unveil lottery games, executives said.”

[samram]

I can see the angle that it seems unfair that the teams will benefit from the fans' gambling, but to compare it to a manager betting on the outcome of baseball games on the field is a stretch. Now, if the Red Sawx were taking bets on the games at the ticket window, that would be a problem.

[TornLabrum]

I think the logic probably goes like this:

If MLB sells the rights to it's trademarked team names to gain income for all of the teams, that's okay. Plus, it helps out the states holding these lotteries, bringing in extra cash keeping taxes lower.

However, if Pete Rose bets on ballgames, it is strictly to line his own pockets (or those of his bookie), and the result could be at worst his getting so deep in debt that he makes moves to intentially lose or at best makes moves to win that can hurt his team down the line.

[SouthSide_HitMen]

I think the logic probably goes like this:

If MLB sells the rights to it's trademarked team names to gain income for all of the teams, that's okay. Plus, it helps out the states holding these lotteries, bringing in extra cash keeping taxes lower.

However, if Pete Rose bets on ballgames, it is strictly to line his own pockets (or those of his bookie), and the result could be at worst his getting so deep in debt that he makes moves to intentially lose or at best makes moves to win that can hurt his team down the line.

Baseball has whored itself. You can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig.

Lotteries are a disgusting, regressive tax on the poor and the math ignorant. This ranks up there with handing out amphetamines without prescriptions to players as one of the most embarrassing moments for MLB and their fans.

I hope people think before contribution to this "$2.5 billion" business.

[spiffie]

But we can't have a MLB team in Las Vegas, because we don't want to be associated with gambling.

[Railsplitter]

The Mohegan Sun Casino advertised at both NYC parks and Fenway last year. I belive I posed the same question at the time as well.