Author Keith O'Brien argues "prop bets pose a particular threat to the integrity of the game."

As long as one athlete can fix the outcome of a wager, the temptation will continue to prove irresistible to some players. This temptation comes at a time when millions of Americans are betting billions of dollars on sports, and sometimes more than a billion on a single game. At some point, according to gambling-addiction experts, an athlete will manipulate their performance during one of these big games, if it hasn't happened already. That leaves those who love sports with only one sensible option. It's time to kill"or at least reel in"the prop bet.

[E]liminating the prop bet entirely will be challenging. Since the first single-player prop bet was invented in the lead-up to Super Bowl XX, in January 1986"when William "The Refrigerator" Perry, a defensive tackle, opened at 20 to 1 to score a touchdown for the Chicago Bears"prop bets have become popular among degenerate gamblers and casual fans alike. If legal gambling platforms didn't offer them in 2025, gamblers would probably turn instead to illegal bookies and illegal websites"a still-thriving world where oversight hardly exists at all.