Bob Costas Refused to Promote Sports Betting While Calling Baseball
Posted on: July 8, 2025, 09:18h.
Last updated on: July 8, 2025, 09:30h.
- Bob Costas’ father was a problem gambler
- As a result, Costas isn’t a fan of sports betting
- Costas says he refused to read sports betting promos on air
Broadcasting legend Bob Costas, who retired last year from play-by-play coverage after nearly four decades with NBC Sports, is no fan of gambling and sports betting. He recently doubled down on that position during a recent interview with Kristen Welker for “Meet the Press.”
Costas’ opposition to sports betting is largely because of his father, John Costas, who suffered from a severe gambling addiction. Costas has said in the past that his dad was making $500 per game bets on baseball as early as the 1960s when the future broadcaster was only a young teenager.
Costas opined that the liberalization of legal sports betting, initiated by a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2018, might not be good for sports.
So much of [sport] is, for at least some portion of the audience, transactional now. If you have a bet on the game, you have a different relationship to how that game plays out than if you’re just rooting for your team,” Costas said.
Costas began his career as a sports reporter for a local news outlet in Syracuse. He covered basketball in St. Louis for a local radio station before getting his first major gig by calling the WGB-TV play-by-play for the Chicago Bulls during the 1979-1980 NBA season.
In 1980, Costas was hired by NBC, and the rest is history. He’d go on to serve as the lead play-by-play caller for multiple Olympics, World Series, Super Bowls, and NBA Finals.
Costas: Sports Betting Going Mainstream Not Good
Costas told Welker that with sports betting becoming mainstream — today legal and regulated in 39 states and Washington, DC — gambling on professional and college sports will ruin some people’s lives as it did his father’s.
John Costas died at the age of 42 of a massive heart attack when Bob was only 18. Costas said at the wake, a thick envelope of cash was handed to him for his father’s winnings the night prior — more than $6,000 in cash.
“In the big picture, the house always wins. And some people, especially now because it’s so easy — my dad had to find a bookie, who was in most cases probably connected to the mob — now, you’ve got young guys with a phone in their hand. It’s right there. And some of those people are going to become addicted. It’s going to ruin some lives,” Costas said.
“That’s inevitable,” Costas concluded.
Costas Refused to Read Promos
Any sports fan watching a television broadcast has seen the many advertisements and promotions hyping the game’s current odds and sports betting options. Costas said he refused to read such copy.
On both the Major League Baseball Network and when I did a handful of games on Turner, I refused to read the gambling promos. They had to have someone else read them or use a voice of god. I just couldn’t in good conscious encourage people to do something which I know — for some of them it’s obviously just a little recreation and it’s fine — there is an insidious aspect to it that I didn’t want to be part of.”
Supporters of legal sports betting, including the American Gaming Association (AGA), contend that legal sports betting protects consumers with responsible play safeguards that offshore and underground bookies do not.
“[The liberalization of sports betting is] a win for millions of Americans who seek to participate in sports wagering in a safe, legal, and regulated manner. States and tribal nations can now set their own policies to legalize and regulate sports betting in an effective manner that protects consumers and creates tax benefits for local communities,” the AGA says.
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