When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
As a grade-school kid, I never thought a whole lot about sports betting – short of a guy named Maury.
He would drop by our house on Tuesday nights with parlay cards for the coming weekend’s NFL games, pick them up from my dad on Thursday and settle on the following Tuesday (with fresh parlay cards in hand).
My dad was not 100 percent forthcoming about what Maury was all about – I knew Maury’s daughter; we attended Hebrew school together – but I figured that it involved money and sports.
Then I went with my family to a Rangers hockey game at Madison Square Garden. Our guys were winning, but it wasn’t by enough of a margin for a loudmouth in the next row.
“Cover the god damned spread!” he shouted down to the ice. “A true sports fan,” my father muttered.
Coming of Age
Days later, I asked what the guy meant. My father explained to me what point-spreads are and how they work.
He even came clean about Maury and his parlay cards. In 1970s New Jersey, not far from ‘Sopranos’ land, this counted as a coming-of-age conversation.
With the best online sportsbooks just a few taps away, some bettors aren’t coping well and guys are doing worse than shouting down to the ice.
Gamblers sit in stadium seats and use cell phones to make ‘in action’ bets as the games go on. They wager on minute-to-minute outcomes, on players to score immediately, on ever-fluctuating point spreads.
Gamblers Turn Nasty
Unfortunately, instead of taking the loss on the chin, punters are taking out their real-time losses on the pros who failed to deliver.
One NBA star has described the current environment as “the wild, wild west.”
Earlier this year, the Cleveland Cavaliers coach, J.B. Bickerstaff complained that disgruntled gamblers are hitting too close to home.
Sports gamblers, he said during a press conference, “got my telephone number, were sending me crazy messages about where I live and my kids, and all that stuff.”
He described the situation as a “dangerous game and a fine line that we’re walking.”
And it’s not just the coaches who get harassed long distance. According to ESPN, fans who gamble on games have left “abusive messages” for one out of three high-profile players.
Those in the NCAA have it even worse: They’ve received death threats over performances that were viewed as sub-par by gamblers.
Former British tennis pro Johanna Konta stated, “I’ve definitely had loads of experiences of people wanting me to die and things like that.”
It’s quite nutty and very ‘Buffalo 66’. A terrifically kooky movie in which the outrageously unhinged Vincent Gallo (he once wished cancer on film critic Roger Ebert, who wound up dying of cancer) plays an ex-con looking to get revenge on the Buffalo Bills kicker who he blames for blowing a championship game.
With the NFL pre-season and its robust betting market revving up, it’s probably time to take a chill pill on player vendettas.
It’s Just a Game
It is worth remembering that every sporting event is just a game and that betting is merely a way to keep it interesting. And, you should never bet an amount you wouldn’t be happy, or rather, non-fussed about losing.
According to National Public Radio in the US, 28% of American adults bet on NFL matches. We’re the ones who make it possible for the league to bag an extra $132 million per year via gambling-related sponsorships.
With that kind of dough swirling around the games and players fighting for contracts, we can all rest assured that the teams we’re betting on are financially motivated to try as hard as they can. After all, money-wise, they have more at stake than we do.
