While the NBA is coming to grips with the FBI investigation into illegal gambling activities, everyone should take a page from Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic.

On Friday, the soon to be 35 year old big man didn’t mince any words when asked about the situation, per Grant Mona of Sports Illustrated. Essentially, Vucevic said to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network that the pervasiveness of gambling has gone unaddressed for too long.

“We don’t know what’s gonna happen in the investigation,” Vucevic said. “But I think that in general, gambling is a big problem, not only sports here, but worldwide.”

Also Vucevic said that because gambling apps are so readily available through entities such as FanDuel and DraftKings.

“It’s available on your phone; all you got to do is download the app and you can just play. Furthemore, “Vooch” went onto elaborate the dyamic shift in fandom as it relates to gambling. In essence, saying that fans are expecting their favorite plans to win them their bets, more so than the game.

“Before, you used to heart, “Hey Vooch, get a win.” Now it’s like, “Hey, my parlay is 10 rebounds. I need 10 boards. Or hey, my parlay’s 15 points.” A lot of times you turn and it’sl like 14, 15 year old kids. And honestly, it pisses me off because it’s disrespectful to the game. We put so much work in to try to do the right thing, to put a good product on the court and try to win for our team. And some people are focused on if I’m gonna to get 10 rebounds or not.”

Nikola Vucevic very eloquent on off-the-court news from an otherwise sublime first few days of on-the-court product ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/pGEndqPGi3

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 24, 2025

Excessive sports gambling should be labled a public health problem

As Vucevic pointed out, this goes way beyond the alleged improporities of Chauncy Billups, Terry Rozier, and others. There is a real sickness associated with the ever-growing stranglehold gambling has on sports.

There’s no doubt that gambling and sports have gone hand in hand like peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Everyone knows about the 1919 Black Sox scandal, point-shaving in college basketball, and Pete Rose betting on baseball.

However, the difference is those instances occured during a time when sports betting was widely looked down upon and leagues and organizations wanted to distance thems as much as possible from its corrupting influence.

Now, leagues and networks have formal partnerships with sports betting companies. Plus with the Supreme Court practically legalizing sports betting nation wide in 2018, it has become a virtual free for all.

Not only that, but many fans are turning to FanDuel, DraftKings, and Parlay to connect with sports rather than with the athletes, teams, or game itself of years past. To Vooch’s point, there is less emphasise on hoping he gets ten rebounds, but rather he must get ten rebounds so that I can win my bet.

All that combined with other social, political, and ecomonic factors has led public health officials to rightly say that this is public health concern. The 24/7 all access of gambling apps could lead to increase rates of gambling disorders, relationship issues, and financial troubles.

Then, there is the growing usage of so-called “mircobetting” which enables users to place their bets on specific in-game moments with immediate results. However, concerns have been raised about whether this could  jeopardize the integrity of the game itself.

Plus, the boatload of revenue generated from sports betting leads to vastly outweighs the money given to treatment centers.

What can be done?

As a result, public health advocates and some lawmmakers are calling for greater regultions on sports betting. Among those include restrictions on microbetting, limitations on adversity, and allocating portions of revenue to treatment facilities.

Beyond the systemic remedies, there is an element of personal responsiblity and common sense. If betting is how one bonds with sports, then that’s purely transactional and not relational. Sports, at its best, is about fostering community, marveling at the sheer sight of athletic beauty, and rooting for the home team through thick and thin.

Also, anyone who does want to gamble should do so within reason and practicality, purely for entertainment. If the allegations against these multimilionares is true, then shame on them for their tone deafness. Why would they need more money when they all of the money in the world?

When inflation rose at 3%, and laid off workers are lining up at food banks due to the government shutdown have some self awareness and basic decency.

Either way, something has to be done to stem the tide before fandom gets taken over by FanDuel.