Adrian Wojnarowski Concerned in-Arena Gambling Will Lead to One Thing

NBA fans have been behaving badly all season long.

Kyrie Irving’s interactions with fans in Boston during Sunday’s Game 1 between the Celtics and Brooklyn Nets raised some serious red flags, he may even get hit with a fine or two. It was also a scene that everyone saw coming.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski thinks there’s another layer to the player-fan relationship that isn’t getting enough attention, sports betting.

“As gambling becomes more prevalent in the arena, people gambling on almost everything that goes on with a game, and they’re drinking…players, organizations — and you talk to them — they already feel it in the arena,” Wojnarowski said. “And when people are losing money in real time, and they’re pointing to a player on the court and say, ‘Hey, I bet you to score more points in the second quarter than somebody else and I lost.’ You’re adding an element to that that we’re not talking as much about but is a real factor in this league.”

Here's Woj talking about this subject on "NBA Today"#NBAPlayoffs #NBATwitter https://t.co/uR5T5YnZIx pic.twitter.com/2oFwvFilfM

— 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣’ 𝙉𝘽𝘼 (@_Talkin_NBA) April 18, 2022

Woj goes on to predict that fans will become more “vitriolic” towards players, and if you know anything about Woj, he’s usually right. It’s one thing to hate a player on an opposing team, but throw in losing money and you have a recipe for disaster.

Gambling actually does have real life consequences, whereas heckling usually doesn’t. No one wants to talk about the effects of gambling but it’s a disease, and one that can have deadly consequences.

The NBA better get this under control.

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