Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the ‘good’ life, i.e. money, liquor, women, all the desired pleasures of the flesh; the term is particularly popular as a description of the lifestyle of a US pimp.

1910		O. Johnson Varmint 355: I’m not going to have a lot of kids in this House starting the sporting life until they’ve grown up a bit, savez?
1921		H.B. Woolston Prostitution in the US 105: The main points noted [...] were the prostitute’s real name and aliases [...] how long she had been in the ‘sporting life’.
1972		Milner & Milner Black Players 27: Several informants stated that if we were really going to tell the world about the ‘Sportin’ Life’ we had better tell it like it is.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 88: The rather elegant vernacular expression that refers to the world of the pimp and his prostitutes — the sporting life.
1981		McKee & Chisenhall Beale Black & Blue 16: Many a Beale Streeter lived out his life without setting foot in Beale’s saloons and gambling dens. Still, early on, the sporting life in the tenderloin area held particular fascination.
2001		(con. late 19C) C. Jeffords Shady Ladies of the Old West 🌐 Brawls between prostitutes, sometimes with Bowie knives, were part of the sporting life.

2. a term of address, usu. ironic, to one who sets themselves up as a pimp, gambler etc. [use may be a specific ref. to the 1934 George Gershwin opera Porgy & Bess and its eponymous ‘city slicker’ character].

1959

C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 79: ‘It’s [i.e. pimping] more straightforward and it’s better paid.’ ‘Oh, if you say so, Sporting Life.’.

3. (drugs) cocaine [its prominence in the lifestyle described in sense 1].

1978

A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 39: Sportin’ Life [...] Happy dust. This stuff is an American institution.