I watch a pre-game show of the Euro Cup, and the broadcast is interrupted for an ad from a betting house. The odds of one team winning are given, the odds of a draw are slightly higher, while the underdog offers the best payout to bettors. The house's profit margin? Zero! Believe it or not. Place your bet now. Back to the broadcast, the game continues.
I open a sports news website, which should be full of good stuff during the Copa America and the Brasileirão, and I find a section sponsored by another betting house. The headlines are easily clickable—lists, rankings, gossip. But you won't find anything substantial inside because the content is very poor. Well, it's just a guess. I didn't click.
Bets are scattered everywhere, and there's no point in talking about a return to analog, but perhaps it's time for sports media to discuss their responsibilities towards the public. When there's a beer commercial, drink responsibly. With medicines, the Ministry of Health warns about something. Toys for children have disappeared from screens. And bets?
Let's follow the steps of a fan who watches a broadcast or enters a news site. They click on the link, download an app, and open an account. It's as if they had entered a casino. The problem isn't betting on a match here and there. The risks are different: (1) thinking that betting is an investment rather than fun; (2) losing control over how much money is spent; (3) taking advantage of being in the casino to pull levers, spin wheels; the traps.
Does the media have responsibility for the citizen who enters a casino and harms themselves? Minimal, as remote as it is for the individual who consumes beer or medicines. But the fact is that in these parallels, there is some care, either through self-regulation or state regulation, while bets continue to be freely encouraged. Who educates and informs the public?
Previously, beer occupied the commercial break on television and the site banner. Today, bets are embedded in the content itself, and because they are digital, the media has the ability to put the fan inside them. Journalists and influencers generate "leads"—which, in order of priority, cease to be the first paragraph of the text and become the referral of the reader to the sponsor.
This indicates that bets shape even a bit of how the media behaves, what it produces. Since the remuneration of its advertising is tied to the number of leads its team generates, the consequence is an increasing investment in shallow, quick, and catchy content. Obviously, clickbait wasn't invented by bets, but the specific mechanics of this sector—unlike beer and medicine, which need the offline—worsen the case.
The media needs funding, just like the club, the federation, and the athlete. This column is not a piece against betting per se, nor an idealistic reverie about what contemporary journalism should be. Each outlet does what it needs to do to pay the bills. It's just time, preferably through self-regulation, because rarely can one count on the state, to find ways to curb excesses and raise public awareness of the risks.
After bets become a widespread public health problem, with financial and social impacts on many families, it won't do any good to act like a famous influencer, who pockets millions and shrugs off those who lost the little they had with the Fortune Tiger.
Rodrigo Capelo
Journalist specialized in sports business at @ge.globo and @sportv. Author of the book "O futebol como ele é” (Football as it is)
