College Football Betting & ESPN

To start out this college football season, ESPN flipped the script and blatantly began referencing gambling lines in their daily programming.  The general consensus was, "It's about fucking time."  Ironically enough, the timing coincided with ESPN's new partnership with Draft Kings and the NFL's partnership with Fan Duel.  I was planning on having a hot take on the hypocrisy of allowing daily fantasy gambling on individual player outcomes while prohibiting gambling on the outcomes of actual games.  It's nothing more than semantics, and Scott Van Pelt said it perfectly last night.

His 9pm SportsCenter even has a "Bad Beats" segment, which is quickly becoming must see TV.  The only thing I enjoy more during his show is making Tim Kurkjian giggle like an idiot because of SVP's Ballimerese (Read: Baltimore) accent.  ESPN has already acquiesced to NCAA demands to get rid of the cover alerts after the first two weeks of the season.  Likewise, people across the sports landscape are complaining about the constant inundation of commercials from Draft Kings & Fan Duel.  As someone who is a proponent for legalized sportsbooks on every corner like in the UK, I see most of these developments in an almost completely positive light.  But I also know that this type of coverage across the television landscape will bring the Congressional watchdogs to the table for a hefty bite of the profits.  It's only a matter of time.

Here is another article on ESPN acknowledging gambling this season -
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2015/09/08/espn-college-gameday-football-gambling-wagering-odds-tv-broadcast/71897470/

Here is an article on a gambling business that was arbitrarily shut down, while daily fantasy thrives -
http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/13506773/betting-bookmaking-curious-case-betchacom-chalk