After the venue was chosen, he contacted the University of Indianapolis in search of volunteers.Īccording to senior English major Yen-Chun Chen, community service is part of her curriculum at UIndy. Sassaman, a student at Ivy Tech Community College in Lawrenceburg, said Expo Bowl was the only bowling alley large enough to accommodate the number of athletes in this year’s competition. Sassaman organized the event and families traveled from as far away as Connersville and Lawrenceburg to participate. The event hosted 196 Special Olympics athletes, and according to Steve Sassaman, competition director for Indiana’s Area-Nine Special Olympics, volunteers were needed to help supervise the day of bowling. UIndy student-volunteers offered spare hands to the Special Olympics bowling competition Nov. Gambling not only closes doors to those who become addicted to it, it opens doors to those who would otherwise be overlooked.Īnd it’s a good bet to expect that we are going to see more evolutionary laws, ideas and gambling lines in this industry for some time to come.Students volunteer to help with Special Olympics It will be interesting to see what reactions come of this barrier-breaking occurrence in sports history, but the bottom line is that as gambling continues to evolve on a global scale, athletes who might otherwise be ignored in Berlin next week are going to get a little extra attention. Requests via phone and email from the Special Olympics to comment on this story were not immediately returned. Calling attention to the accomplishments of those competing is a given, and if another layer of attention can be added through gambling, so be it. Special Olympics World Games take place every two years, and competitions are constructed so that athletes are placed in divisions according to their ability and age. “We’re a gaming company that provides entertainment products, so every goal behind our marketing strategies is to generate publicity not only for us, but also for the competition,” BetOnline said in a press release announcing the Special Olympics odds. Scripted sports such as professional wrestling that recognize the value of having wagering available for their incredibly-popular events have had recent attempts to integrate odds turned away. ParaOlympic wagering has long been allowed in Europe, and Olympics betting during the Tokyo Games was available in more than half of the continental United States. And maybe they’ll get the recognition they deserve.” “Skimming across the odds, I didn’t realize the United States women’s swimming team was such a powerhouse,” Joe Winner of ESPN South Florida wrote. ![]() ![]() People can wager on things such as which country will win the most combined gold medals for all of the swimming events, or individual champions for the men’s and women’s powerlifting bench press discipline. "For my money, I’d much rather watch and wager on the World Games where talented athletes are competing in real sports than some guy stuffing 60 hot dogs into his mouth."īetOnline.ag has odds listed for 12 different competitions across six Special Olympics sports (Track & Field, Basketball, Cycling, Powerlifting, Soccer, Swimming). "If there are two or more people engaged in a sanctioned competition, we want to offer odds on it, and the Special Olympics is no different," BetOnline Sportsbook Manager, Adam Burns, told Forbes. NBA commissioner Adam Silver wrote an op-ed in the New York Times nearly nine years ago about how gambling would help grow the NBA, and that vision has proven true for his league as well as other pro sports associations such as the NFL, NBA and NHL. Non-mainstream sports such as lacrosse, auto racing and table tennis have experienced exponential growth over the last five years due to the ability to watch and wager. Questions will certainly be raised, but why not the Special Olympics? This would seem to be a win-win-win for everyone except those who complain for a hobby or profession.
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