Richard O. Davies and Richard G. Abram

Each year American sports fans wager hundreds of billions of dollars on college and professional sporting events with illegal bookies, the sports betting section of Nevada casinos, and in office pools. Every morning, sports bettors consult the numerous television and radio programs, daily newspapers, and Internet services that provide national betting lines and tips to give them an edge on upcoming games. In the following selection, Richard O. Davies and Richard G. Abram, the authors of Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life, maintain that sports betting intensifies the interest and viewing pleasure of fans and is the driving force behind the enormous popularity of sports in the United States. Fears of game fixing, however, have led authorities to ban sports betting in every state but Nevada. The authors argue that since legalized...