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Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling

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Jonathan D. Cohen

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“In too many states, sports betting regulatory bodies have ceded control to gambling companies. These regulators are charged with managing sports betting and ensuring companies abide by the rules that the regulators put in place. In practice, they seem to see their mandate as getting out of companies’ way while ensuring sportsbooks meet the bare minimum requirements.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“Most of the information Americans receive about sports betting comes from sportsbooks themselves. Thanks to commercials featuring celebrity spokespeople and the arrival of sportsbooks inside arenas, what was once an illicit vice on the margins of society is now at the heart of sports culture. The through line in all of this normalizing messaging is that betting on sports is exciting, and that it is harmless. The nation needs counterprogramming to sportsbooks’ narrative so that young people, in particular, are able to appropriately scrutinize these messages. They do not need to be chastised into thinking that gambling is not exciting or is evil, but they need to be made aware that it is addictive and that it can be easy for someone to get carried away. One approach is that taken by Virginia, where, in 2022, gambling addiction was added to school curricula on drug and alcohol abuse. Arthur Paikowsky of the International Center for Responsible Gaming suggested adding gambling content to first-year orientation at colleges and universities. Parents and anyone who teaches financial literacy should also make a point of talking about gambling. Of course, high school and college students are not exactly known for paying rapt attention during these types of lessons. But someone needs to present an alternative view about sports betting than what young people are likely to see on social media or in sportsbook advertising.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“People who have lost their savings or have developed an addiction need to know that they are not solely at fault and that support is available. Given the high suicide rate among problem gamblers, American families and educational institutions need to do everything they can so that if someone runs into trouble with gambling, they know to come forward before their life is in danger.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“Seven states have legalized iGaming — online casino games like slot machines and blackjack. From personal experience, these games are terrifying in how addictive they are. They offer much better margins than sports betting, so major gambling companies will leverage their sportsbooks to dominate this market, just as they leveraged DFS to dominate sports betting. While sports betting can be tweaked to be made safer, iGaming needs to be stopped in its tracks until it can be proven that the games are designed with player safety in mind. And even these games are just the beginning, as young people are caught up in a range of online gambling-adjacent activities, from stock trading and cryptocurrency to video-game skin gambling and loot boxes.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“Records from his BetMGM accounts show that, over the sixty-two days from May 16 to July 16, he placed at least one bet all but eight days. Thanks to an early hot streak, he ended his betting binge down just $1,500, a somewhat meaningful sum given his lack of steady income, but like the year prior, the toll was not just financial. On some days he spent nearly all his waking hours gambling, multiple times equating his mindset to being high on psychedelic mushrooms where gambling becomes “your reality,” a reality totally detached from all other parts of life. The stress of that reality led him to take up smoking and to drink a lot more alcohol than he otherwise would have. For the first round of the tournament, he stayed awake for nearly forty consecutive hours researching potential picks, discussing upcoming matches, and then watching them unfold. His preferred way to bet was to identify a match he liked and watch the first game or two to see how the players were performing. BetMGM would have let him bet on every single serve if he had wanted to.”

SportsAddictionGamblingGamblerGambling AddictGambling AddictionSports BettingLegalized Sports BettingOnline Sports BettingSports Gambling
Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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