Last month, FBI director Kash Patel held a high profile press conference to announce indictments in a sports bet-rigging ring he labeled an “insider trading saga for the NBA.”

If only it was an actual insider trading ring that he'd broken up — bet rigging busts may help the sports betting industry by giving comfort to gamblers that there is a cop on the beat, and rigged outcomes will be kept to a minimum, but what good does that do the rest of us?

Sports gambling icon Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder made his bones betting Truman would beat Dewey.

The answer is "not much." If gamblers couldn’t trust outcomes, perhaps the industry would shrivel, but we as an economy or country would lose very little. Gambling is a zero sum business, economically unproductive, ranks behind only tobacco and alcohol (and ahead of soft drinks and junk food) among the worst legal societal ills, and comes tops among what assistance funds should not be spent on. Those of us that enjoy three leg parlays and player props might feel some loss, but the country as a whole would not. 

On the other hand, if Patel had busted an insider trading ring, giving succor to investors that there was a cop on the investment beat, that could be of enormous economic benefit, or at least stave off serious damage. If trust in the market shrinks, so does investment, which diminishes both retirement accounts and future economic growth. 

Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life for betting, not bet rigging, since he wagered his teams would win.

Why hasn't Patel announced any insider trading busts? Insider trading is as easy to spot as rigged betting – insider bettors can only make money if they place a bet, and insider traders can only make money if they place a trade. The audit trails for sports bets and stock market trades are extremely easy to follow. 

Maybe financial malfeasance is not top of mind for Patel, or for an administration in which family members have made billions from crypto investments while the President pushes for pro-crypto legislation. Then there are the campaign donors that made hundreds of millions from the Argentina bailout. So perhaps it's no surprise that rigged basketball bets, rather than backroom financial dealings, are what registers with Kash.

Marlon Brando plays a boxer in "On the Waterfront" who coulda been a contenda, or so he thinks, if not for the fight he threw.