“Will this go down as a tale of player stupidity or NFL hypocrisy? How about both.”

－ Mike Jones , The Athletic

Hello Downriver,

You just knew it was going to happen — but to the Lions?

Again?

It was 60 years ago this year that the National Football League suspended eventual Hall of Famers Alex Karras of Detroit and Paul Hornung of Green Bay for betting on football.

Now, back then, gambling was still considered a complete no-no in all professional sports, no doubt in large part due to the Black Sox Scandal 44 years earlier.

That scandal involved eight members of the Chicago White Sox who were permanently banned from baseball for throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds — in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein.

Today, however, not only does gambling no longer carry the stink of the Black Sox, but it’s also been actually embraced by professional sports owners who see betting as an exceptional new — and lucrative — revenue stream.

Indeed, thanks to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling, sports gambling is now legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

In fact, so ubiquitous is online sports gambling that the TV and radio stations broadcasting games actively shill for gambling sites and present various betting options during those games — and print media publish odds for upcoming contests.

Why?

Obviously because of money.

How much money?

According to a report commissioned by the American Gaming Association (AGA), it’s estimated the NFL alone could earn $2.3 billion annually off a “fully mature U.S. sports gambling market.”

The AGA also said that Major League Baseball (MLB) “stands to gain $1.1 billion in projected revenue from legal sports betting” each year.

And, finally, a Forbes article said that “the nation’s casinos and mobile gaming apps rang up a record $54.93 billion in revenue during the first 11 months of 2022.”

Revenue that is converted into profits for their sports league “partners.”

(Note: The AGA says these numbers don’t include the tribal casinos or illegal gambling.)

To put things in a local context, a single month of sports betting in Michigan in March 2023, totaled $44.6 million — compared to $30.5 million in the same month a year earlier; a 46% increase.

Now, I’m no prude; I’ve gone to casinos, been to Vegas and even threw a couple bucks on old-time football cards back in the day.

But never did I imagine that pro sports would so thoroughly embrace gambling to the extent that it now represents a core revenue stream.

Which is fine — except.

Except you can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube, and as long as sports betting is not only condoned but in fact promoted by pro sports, the games are now forever suspect.

It may not be ghosts of 1919, but I can’t help but wonder when a player, coach, manager will see an easy payday by simply dropping a catch, missing a cutoff man, airing a free throw — or fielding a sub-par team.

Heck, the movie “Major League” was premised on an owner willing to tank an entire season for a better stadium deal (which many think is going on in Oakland right now).

Of course, it was only a matter of time before gambling’s dark side came to visit — again.

In the 1950s, six college basketball teams were caught up in a point-shaving scandal involving 33 players and organized crime.

It happened again and again, including in the 1978-79 college basketball season when the Mafia recruited and bribed members of the Boston College squad to ensure the team would or wouldn’t cover the point spread.

Ever since sports gambling turned legal, there have been repeated violations by NFL players — including last year.

In every instance, however, the NFL insisted that no player was using inside information to place their bets.

Then, of course, there’s the story of Pete Rose, who agreed to an indefinite ban from baseball in 1989 — and later admitted that he was a frequent gambler, but that he never bet against his own team.

This most recent “scandal” in the NFL (and in the Lions’ den) — although I’m loathed to call something so expected a scandal — resulted in five NFL players, four from the Lions, being suspended.

You know the story: Two of the four Lions — Quintez Cephus and C.J. Moore — were suspended indefinitely and were summarily cut by the team.

The other two — Stanley Berryhill III and Jameson Williams — were suspended for six games.

The fifth man, the Washington Commanders’ Shaka Toney, was also suspended indefinitely, but as I write this, he’s still with the team.

So, why the disparity?

Because Berryhill and Williams never bet on football.

(Adding to the story, the Lions also fired several staff members from various departments in the organization who may have also been gambling.)

So, how do we know all about this gambling?

Did someone not get paid?

No, in one respect, it’s worse (or better, depending on your perspective): The NFL is not only in cahoots with gambling organizations when it comes to stuffing its pockets, but apparently also in cahoots when it comes to monitoring its players activities on those betting sites.

Which means, of course, those sites — and quite possibly, the NFL — are monitoring you, too; not just what you’re betting on (obviously), but where you are when you placed that bet.

How do we know that’s what happened?

Again, the four Lions who were suspended faced discipline because they either placed bets on NFL action, which is strictly prohibited, or placed bets on non-NFL games, but while on Lions property, which is a violation of the NFL’s gambling policy that prohibits anyone in the NFL “from engaging in any form of gambling in any club or league facility or venue, including the practice facility.”

But players aren’t prohibited from gambling on sports other than football.

And the other three major sports?

The NBA prohibits team employees and personnel, including players, from all forms of betting on any game or event in the league.

However, casino gambling is permitted, as is betting on non-NBA or non-NBA-affiliated leagues’ sports in places where it is legal.

MLB actually allows players to endorse sports betting companies, although they’re not allowed to gamble on baseball games.

Finally, the NHL also prohibits gambling on any NHL game, but players can bet on any other sport.

Such is the invasion of gambling into our sports world.

So, although I’m no prude, I’m also no longer a simple, look-the-0ther-way fan; I will forever wonder about potential corruption.

Especially in those big games where more money than ever is spent on wagers.

Like this year’s Super Bowl, which projected action of more than $1.1 billion (with a “B”).

I know we can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, and we can’t revisit “gentler” times when friendly betting was with the bookie at the bar and everyone looked the other way.

In the final analysis, this story isn’t about the game of football or any other sport; it’s about the business of football, et al.

It’s about owners so greedy for another buck that they’re willing to punish a player in order to protect a false sense of integrity.

For these players didn’t break any law — in 23 states, betting is perfectly legal; they broke a rule.

And rules are broken all the time; they can and have been modified over generations of sports.

Such as the stupid baserunner placed on second in extra innings, or kickoffs being modified to prevent runbacks or on-side retrievals; deleting one of the lines on the rink — or adding a three-point shot in the pros.

No, this isn’t about gambling, per se; it’s about money.

For in today’s sports world, betting is front and center and has forever superseded the game itself over the past 60-plus years

And the major leagues have no one to blame but themselves for my suspicions.

Craig Farrand is a former managing editor of The News-Herald Newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected].