Did you see those big flashy ads on Superbowl Sunday?

No, not those ads, you know, the hyper-clever ads like General Motors usurpation with Dr. Evil plugging electric cars or Budweiser and the Clydesdales.

I mean the ads touting the virtues of gambling.

They were all over the place. You saw celebrities and sports heroes chiming in on how much fun it is to get on the gambling bandwagon. It is easy. They say you might be set for life. Well, probably not. If there is one truth in the gambling biz, it is: “The House always wins.”

Once again, blame it on the Supreme Court. In 2018, they legalized sports betting and “Bingo,” some 30 states went along with the judicial “OK.”

According to a piece in Politico, in 2021, the gambling biz took in $1.5 billion in revenue. Then at the beginning of this season, the NFL agreed to permit sports gambling ads on their telecasts and revenues jumped another 270%.

Look, I‘m not naive. I didn’t just arrive on the noon balloon from Rangoon. I know you can always place a bet on your favorite team. There are always office pools on this or that.

I keep my clean socks and shorts in a chest of drawers that my father purchased with the proceeds of a win in the big office pool.

At the former newspaper where I earned my spurs, a printer made the rounds every day taking bets. At police headquarters, the reporters ran a year-long office pool on the Indianapolis 500-mile Race. The police chief was a member.

From municipal golf courses with rock-hard tees to country clubs with their lush fairways, a golfer can always find a little action.

If you look behind the curtain, you might find the same things going on in lodge halls, veterans gatherings and even, gasp, church festivals.

Gambling is not a new vice.

If you are a believer, you might want to check out Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34 and John 19:23. These passages in the Good Book mention the soldiers “cast lots” to see who would get to take home the garments of the crucified Savior.

No one makes you gamble, although it can get to be an addiction. If you don’t think so, Google up the career of former NFL quarterback Art Schlichter who went from the starting lineup to a prison cell. He is not the only pro football player involved in a gambling scandal.

In the end, if you want to bet on this or that, it is up to you. It is your choice. What bothers me, is “The Big Fix.”

Case in point, recently an NFL coach filed suit alleging racial discrimination in the ranks of coaches and executives. Along the way, he mentioned that the owner of the team that gave him the ax offered him $100,000 to lose games. Another coach chimed in saying the team offered him a bonus if he lost enough games to get a good spot on the college draft board. The owners denied these accusations.

Are these claims true? Heck, I don’t know. But the idea that folks would pay the coaches to tank games is enough for me not to risk the rent money on the home team.

If true, it is a scandal that is a whale of a lot more important than a certain football that lost or did not lose a couple of PSI.

And when the house take is measured in numbers ending with the letter “B,” for billion, temptation has to be a major league concern.

But "The Big Fix" is not only a problem for football. Over in China, a charming 15-year-old Olympic figure skater dazzled the world with her athleticism and grace. In just a few moments on the ice, she stole the hearts of much of the world.

Then the hammer fell. It seems the Russian Olympic Committee failed to fess up that she had failed a drug test for some heart medicine that is said to enhance performance. Oops, it was just a clerical error on the part of a lab technician. Right?

Do you think a 15-year-old skater figured out which banned substance to take and what was the proper dosage? And do you wonder if anybody bothered to tell her that the drug might affect her still developing body in ways that could turn out to be a disaster?

Or, do you think it was just another case of “The Big Fix?”