Dayton Flyers urge sports bettors not to blame athletes for losing bets

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COLUMBUS, Ohio As the Ohio Casino Control Board convened for its first meeting following the launch of legalized sports betting in the state on New Year’s Day, Executive Director Matt Schuler found himself tackling a question that was not on the agenda.

“It’s been brought to my attention since we’ve been sitting here,” Schuler said. This Dayton men’s basketball coach, Anthony Grant, used his post-game press conference after the team’s Tuesday night victory over Davidson “to respond to hate messages sent to his players, received by them. days by players upset over their losses,” Schuler said.

“It makes me sick,” Coach Grant said. “I’m just asking all Flyers fans to understand that we’re dealing with 18, 21 or 22 year olds and it’s about them,” he said. “They have families. They don’t deserve this, the sanity is real.”

Schuler also issued a friendly reminder to fans.

“These are children playing a game,” Schuler told commission members, reminding them that they may not have the power to control free speech, but they can control who can bet in the state.

“Hopefully I’m not going to violate our authority here, but the commission has the power through the general assembly to put people on an exclusion list from all gambling in the state of Ohio and I think it behooves the commission to look into that very power,” he stressed. “That if social media is able to help us figure out who these people are who are speaking out against hate towards children, the commission has a responsibility to ensure that … these individuals cannot engage in legal sports gambling in the state of Ohio.”

“We obviously have no control over how people behave, but we do control the places they can choose to attend,” Schuler said.

Coach Grant didn’t go into specifics, but his comments came days after the Flyers suffered a 1-point loss to Virginia Commonwealth University, a game they were favorites to win by 7.5. points.

A quick search of the team’s Twitter page found several post-game comments regarding lost money or implying the game was rigged.

News 5 contacted several local universities as well as the Mid-American Conference to see if this is a trend. Coach Grant says if they haven’t, they probably will at some point.

“It could really change the landscape of college sports,” the coach said.

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