Betting scandals becoming new normal with sports leagues in bed with gambling industry

If you've watched enough commercials during Raptors telecasts, you've probably heard the song my four-year-old daughter calls "Money in The Toilet."

That's not her comment on the quality of the ad jingle. Vocally, the singer is no Fantasia, who delivered a show-stopping rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner during the 2019 NBA Finals in Toronto. It's not even fair to compare her. But she does her job, which is to get us thinking about wagering with Bet Rivers.

Every time the ad appears on my TV, I change the channel. When my daughter asks why I don't like the song, I explain to her that my cash belongs in the bank, and the song encourages us to flush our money down the toilet.

Except that's not fully true, as far as gambling is concerned. Sometimes betting is like putting your money in a photocopier, turning one bill into a bunch of them.

March 20, same thing. A surge of money backing Porter to underperform. Porter leaves the game early. Bettors get paid. A lot. Enough to trigger the interest of experts at the NBA which on Monday launched an investigation into "betting irregularities" linked to Porter's performance.

Yes, the NBA was ensnared in a bona fide betting scandal, which unfolded less than a week after news broke that baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani either covered $4.5 million US in losses for his gambling-addicted interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, or had that money siphoned from his account by that same interpreter, who was deep in debt to a Southern California bookie.

And that development followed revelations by Indiana Pacers standout Tyrese Halliburton, and Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff, that they routinely endure insults, harassment and physical threats from disgruntled sports bettors.

That's a lot