Protecting players should be a top concern for the Little League World Series amid the proliferation of gambling overseas, which represents the “erosion of the sanctity in youth sports,” critics told Newsweek.
Shawn French, host of The Determined Society podcast and a former catcher at Louisiana State University, denounced the rise of sites like BetOnline and Bovada as detrimental to young athletes, potentially creating a nightmare scenario.
“Now we know that betting on youth sports, especially 10- to 12-year-olds, is against the law here,” French told Newsweek. “But it doesn’t necessarily keep the risk away regarding these overseas betting sites. The thing that really scares me is it proposes this massive ethical risk for these minors.”
French warned of potential safety risks and threats to players and their parents due to wagers linked to Little League World Series (LLWS) matchups.
“These people get very fanatical about their bets and how much money they lose,” he said. “What’s to say these families aren’t going to get death threats if their 11-year-old kid doesn’t play well? That is scary to me. It should be scary to the parents, it should be scary for the kids and it should be scary for the society we live in that these children are now being subject to people who may be more worried about their betting streak than the safety and sanctity of these children.”
French, who previously played in the College World Series and now coaches his 11-year-old son’s team, said he was dismayed by LLWS gambling and the potential impact on young athletes.
“It’s a wild thing,” he told Newsweek. “This is just an erosion of the sanctity in youth sports. It is scary.”
Little League officials, meanwhile, publicly condemned gambling on youth sports in a statement last week.
“While Little League International continues to monitor the complexity and ever-evolving world of sports betting, we feel strongly that there is no place for betting on Little League games or on any other youth sports competition,” Little League International announced on August 14.
Little League players learn the “fundamentals of the games” and vital life lessons, including teamwork and integrity, while on the diamond, organizers said.
“And no one should be exploiting the successes and failures of children playing the game they love for their own personal gain,” the statement concluded.
Some Little League managers are also angered that gamblers can wager on games involving boys as young as 10.
“I’m not a fan,” South Carolina manager Dave Bogan told the Associated Press. “It’s just not appropriate, it feels dirty, quite honestly.”
Hawaii’s manager, Gerald Oda, said placing a bet on young boys robs the “beauty” of Little League.
“This is the only tournament where you’re representing your local community,” Oda told the AP. “It’s that innocence, that pureness that these kids show on the field.”
The 12-year-old boys on Oda’s team should cherish the memories from this summer more so than wins or losses, he added.
“Gambling is here to stay, but I am thankful that Little League is very protective of what they have, and they should be.” Oda continued. “You know that pure joy and emotion whether you win or you lose, that’s the greatest thing.”
An Outsider’s Perspective
George Daniel, former commissioner of the National Lacrosse League, also called on LLWS officials to be more aggressive regarding ongoing efforts to protect young athletes as gambling thrives overseas.
“Professional athletes face backlash from angry bettors in social media,” Daniel told Newsweek. “For a young person to deal with that would be unbearable. Little League World Series needs to be proactive in limiting their data rights and being diligent in prohibiting gambling on their events.”
Daniel said he’d work to further highlight the collective sheer love of baseball if he oversaw the roughly two million boys and girls who play Little League worldwide.
“Balancing the commercial aspects with sportsmanship of a youth sports property is always challenging,” Daniel told Newsweek. “I would try to emphasize the joy of playing rather than the competitive aspects, but that’s not easy to do when you are talking about an internationally televised event.”
Fond Memories
Sixty-five percent of U.S. adults surveyed in 2022 said they played competitive or recreational youth sports — with basketball (24 percent) and baseball (23 percent) ranking as the most popular, according to the YouGov poll.
Among former baseball players, 45 percent of Americans said they had “very positive” experiences, compared to just 2 percent who had “very negative” recollections from the diamond.
More than 60 boys who played in the Little League World Series later went onto the majors, including Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson. In 1981, he starred as a catcher on a team from Barrington, Illinois, that lost in the final and ultimately finished third.
“I think at some point even when you lose that game and your hopes have sort of been dashed, that’s when it starts to sink in that you played for the U.S. championship,” Wilson told the Seattle Times on Saturday. “Even at 12, that means quite a bit.”
Despite the devastating 11-10 loss to a squad out of Tampa, Florida, Wilson fondly recalled the indelible experience he had decades earlier.
“Just kind of a storybook kind of a scenario from beginning to end,” Wilson told the newspaper. “But as a 12-year-old just realizing how much fun the game was, what a good team around you was all about and the whole experience of Williamsport was just so fun.”
Wilson, 56, returned to Pennsylvania on Sunday as the Seattle Mariners played the New York Mets in the MLB Little League Classic game. He also threw out the first pitch before a Little League World Series matchup between Panama and Mexico.
“I’ll probably feel 12 years old all over again,” Wilson said prior to the trip. “I think in some ways I’m realistic in believing that it probably looks completely different than how I remembered it at 12. It’s probably a lot smaller than I thought it was. But just kind of being able to see the Little Leaguers there and seeing that experience again through their eyes will bring back a lot more.”
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