One of the benefits of a no-travel Saturday is that it gives me a chance to revisit topics that flashed across the radar screen during a week of non-stop NFL news.
Here’s something not from the NFL but highly relevant to it.
At a time when many leagues (including the NFL), teams, players, and media organizations are gladly grabbing the bag of cash that comes from assisting in the normalization of gambling, San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama has drawn a clear line in the sand.
Via Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing, Wembanyama was asked this week whether he’d ever accept a deal to promote gambling.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I will never do that. Honestly, I think it’s very sad to see some players promote it, in my opinion. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me.”
Wembanyama has many opportunities to convert his skyrocketing fame into money for nothing. He won’t do it just to increase his net worth.
“I’ve refused much much more money than I’ve made for things that were not to my values,” Wembanyama said. “And now I want to promote things that have a good impact, have a good influence, with whom I can share messages with, and values. Obviously, we earn millions and millions, this is not our biggest strength. Our biggest strength is inspiring, and we can inspire in a good or a bad way. I want to inspire in a good way.”
Yes, it’s legal in most states to gamble with sportsbooks (and in all states to essentially gamble through prediction markets). But the proliferation of unregulated advertisements has enticed many young men who aren’t yet able to figure out how it all works to think they can beat a system that is, in plenty of ways, rigged against them. Many of them dig a hole. When they realize their predicament, many of them keep digging.
As I’ve said many times, gambling is fine as long as it’s done with a clear understanding of how it works, and with a firm commitment to treat the money devoted to it as an entertainment expense. It’s not a way to get rich. It’s not a way to pay the bills. And we respect anyone who chooses not to shrug and say, “Everyone else is getting paid to promote gambling. Why shouldn’t I?”
For someone like Wembanyama, who could parlay his name, image, and likeness into a stack of cash nearly as tall as he is, the commitment to his values should be amplified, and admired.