The Mixed Messaging of Professional Leagues Embracing Sports Betting

Your favorite professional sports league wants you to bet on games, and it wants you to know that it loves gambling…except for the people that work and play for their teams

When I was in college, I had a marketing professor that went on a bit of a tangent on advertising. One of my classmates brought up a point about the idea of “sex sells” as a marketing tactic. My professor insisted that those types of marketing campaigns are never truly effective and that impactful advertisements are more aspirational. If he was right, sports betting apps did not get the memo.

These apps are everywhere, as are their flashy promotional materials with attractive spokeswomen that are intended to speak to a largely male demographic (68% of sports betting customers are men). Gambling on sports has become more commonplace than it ever was in the past. What was once a hobby reserved for degenerates in Las Vegas has become a casual activity that is encouraged while watching your favorite team.

The most interesting part of the rise of sports betting apps is not the embrace from the average fan at a sports bar or the sports media networks having dedicated gambling segments and shows. But it is the fact that the leagues themselves have embraced these apps as part of the core messaging of the sport. And…