Madison Keys thinks there is “not a black-and-white answer” regarding the gambling in tennis issue as the American tennis star suggests there is a really good side to it but also a very negative one.
Tennis players dealing with verbal abuse through social media has sky-rocketed over the last couple of years and the insulting and threatening messages often come from angry bettors after they lose their money.
Knowing that certain tournaments have partnerships with betting companies, some instantly argued that simply ending those partnerships would help because why promote betting on tennis if players would later deal with verbal abuse.
Asked about it in Indian Wells, Keys highlighted that a significant number of money comes from those partnerships, which ultimately allows tournaments to give some solid prize money to players and also increase it with time.
But then, the reigning Australian Open champion also underlined that she doesn’t like at all to hear or read about an angry bettor reaching out to a player in a hateful manner.
Keys asked if ‘gambling is good or bad for tennis these days’
“I don’t think it’s a black-and-white answer, just because I think it depends on who you’re asking. Obviously there’s a lot of partnerships that come from betting,” the world No. 7 explained.
“So at the end of the day a lot of the tournaments make a lot of money from the partnerships that they have with betting companies. That’s what keeps us having jobs.
“So in that way, I can see where it’s really beneficial as far as the players on the receiving end of a lot of the betters being very angry. I would say it’s obviously not my favorite thing.”
Also, Keys added that the ideal scenario would be if tournaments could have all the benefits from those partnerships but also have players more protected from verbal abuse.
Tennis World USA