Gambling has always played a large role in professional sports, but recently it’s in the news with regularity. On January 5^th, OJ Mayo and Tony Allen of the Memphis Grizzlies were involved in an altercation on the team plane. According to team sources, things started to get testy when after a game of poker, Allen simply told Mayo to pay up. Allen left for the bathroom and when he came back, Mayo got in his face and a fight broke out. As a result, the Grizzlies coach has banned gambling on the team plane. Not only did these two players ruin the trips for all of their teammates, but they represent a pattern in the past year. Last year Gilbert Arenas, guard of the Orlando Magic, was in a similar situation with a teammate, but the situation escalated and guns were brought into their locker room. These are not even the biggest cases; in 2008, Charles Barkley admitted to having lost over $10 million while gambling! The problem is that most of these players come from nothing! They get a ton of money and don’t know how to protect it! As a result, there are dozens of broke players who are in thousands of dollars in debt.

Now, league commissioners in almost every sport are contemplating the prudency of allowing players to gamble. One school of thought is that athletes are extremely competitive people, and allowing them to play cards on flights is playing with fire. Others say that these games are stimulants for team bonding, and as long as it doesn’t affect their athletics they have that right. If gambling is banned, there is no doubt that commissioners will be hearing from the players’ unions. The NBA is expected to go into a lockout next year! Nothing could be worse than if the players were given further incentive to strike.

People are killed over money all the time. Athletes serve as role models to millions of kids. No athletes have died of gambling disputes as far as I know, but the recent events suggest that a catastrophe is not out of the question.