Where do you come up with such stupidity? I have heard of betting on college football but never on H.S. track.
You be surprised at the small towns in the South that have so little entertainment they live for H.S sports. Only place I ever lived that the majority of the town turned out for a girls basketball game.
Some weekends they had to cancel the dog or cock fights as everyone was out rooting for a soft ball game, little league.
Small towns where most everyone has lived a generation or 2 next door to their neighbors, most everyone has a horse in the race be it son, daughter, nephew, niece, grand child or family's of best friends.
Any kind of competitions brings out the money be it cockroach racing, to frog jumping.
I suggest you Lacarnut get out a bit more to see the other side of life.
Then there are the businesses that sponsor's the H.S. GAMES, they want to advertise they are proud sponsors of the H.S winners in a Spelling Bee or Chess Club, the Swim team or field hockey teams.
The recruiters for the professional sports teams start at Freshman level H.S. and keep an eye on the potential college players for years.
There is money to be made in sports one way or another. Never know when a recruiter will pick up a 15 year old track runner for possible future Olympic endorsements.