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While gambling can be an entertaining enhancement to the sports-watching experience, its widespread legalization has also led to some of the worst trolls in social media coming out of the woodwork.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s way of dealing with the hate? Kill them with kindness.
Jon Machota @jonmachota
Dak Prescott on critical fans on social media: “I get when fans are upset. I get it. I was once there. … I laugh at it because I understand it’s an angry fan.”<br><br>”But then there are other cases … those are the times you have to remember, he must’ve had his whole rent on that… <a href=”https://t.co/gznMYFmTNF”>pic.twitter.com/gznMYFmTNF</a>
The Cowboys are 7-3 against the spread, so there haven’t been too many times where fans could express their annoyance this season. That said, one of those losses came against the Arizona Cardinals in an upset that destroyed a ton of parlays across the country.
Prescott has also had some quiet games individually during blowouts, which might hurt some prop bets.
While trolling can sometimes be written off as teenagers with unfettered internet access letting out their festering rage, that’s not the case with gamblers. These are—quite literally by law—adults by nature, which makes the level of anger hurled at players all the more cringeworthy.
Prescott didn’t wake up on Sunday morning and tell anyone to put $5 into a 17-leg parlay hoping to get rich quick. The beauty—and sometimes the curse—of sports gambling is that the decision on whom to place the wager is entirely up to the bettor.
There are no cards or dice rolls or pulls of the handle on a slot machine. It is a decision that is entirely based on the control of the user, even if you can’t dictate the outcome of the game. People do not have anyone to blame but themselves for a lost sports bet, though you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who sees it that way in the aftermath of a bad beat.