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“On TV and online, companies have turned to celebrity spokespeople to help normalize sports gambling. On the surface, the selection of spokesmen and they are almost all men may seem unconventional: comedian and actor Kevin Hart for DraftKings, actor and singer Jamie Foxx for BetMGM, and actor and comedian J. B. Smoove for Caesars. After all, none have any post-secondary athletic credentials. The former DraftKings employee believes these spokesmen were chosen to make sports betting feel accessible to casual fans, rather than someone already obsessed with sports or gambling.”

Quote by Jonathan D. Cohen

Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling

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“While sportsbooks contract with their fair share of athletes from active players like LeBron James to recent retirees like Rob Gronkowski to old-timers like Charles Barkley they select actors and comedians in an attempt to strike a broader appeal. It likely comes as no coincidence that Hart, Smoove, and Foxx and many of the former athletes are Black. African Americans are more likely to have a sports betting account, more likely to check their account at least daily, and twice as likely to say they typically bet more than $100.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“Tonko introduced the Betting on Our Future Act, which proposes a ban on sports betting ads on television, radio, and the internet. The bill is intentionally modeled on the 1969 legislation that prohibited most cigarette advertising. It comes in response to what Tonko called “a public health crisis” created by “predatory promotions.” By offering generous bonuses and so-called “risk free” or “no sweat” bets, Tonko alleged, the industry is seeking to “hook and retain a new generation.” “Instead of Joe Camel, now we’ve replaced that with celebrity spokespeople.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“In April 2021, forty-year-old Luke Ashton died by suicide after sinking £18,000 into debt, primarily through gambling with Betfair, a part of Flutter. Ashton had utilized numerous RG [Responsible Gaming] tools, including self-exclusion and deposit limits. But in the ten weeks prior to his death, he ramped up his gambling. In March 2021, he made 1,229 bets and deposited £2,500 into his account. Ashton received eight generic RG emails from Betfair, whose algorithm labeled him “low risk” for problem gambling. In a landmark move, the coroner listed gambling disorder as a cause of death, noted that RG tools are “inadequate” for protecting gamblers, and castigated the company for not adopting practices that would meaningfully prevent harm.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“The SAFE Bet Act would reenact a ban on sports betting but create a process whereby states can apply to the Department of Justice to set up sports betting operations, offering federal oversight to ensure states have sufficient consumer protection regulations in place. The “minimum federal standards” called for in the bill fall across three categories. First, advertising, banning certain ad content such as bonus offers and placing limits on when gambling ads can run, including during live sporting events. Second, affordability, banning credit card deposits, requiring affordability checks for anyone making a large wager, and banning sportsbooks from accepting more than five deposits from a customer over a twenty-four-hour period. Third, artificial intelligence, banning the use of AI to track players’ gambling or create individualized promotions.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“In 2022, a New York Times investigation uncovered at least eight campuses that had reached partnerships with gambling companies, including the University of Colorado Boulder, where every download of the PointsBet app using the university’s promotional code netted the school $30 after the customer placed their first bet.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“Gambling companies had promised sports betting as a tax revenue bonanza and by converting players from the illegal market, a product that would do little to reshape the total amount spent on gambling. “We’re starting to see policymakers start to really push back on all of the false promises that they were once sold,” Brianne Doura-Schawohl explained.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“The first lawsuits against tobacco companies by smokers were filed in the 1950s, but the industry maintained an undefeated record in these cases for four decades. The opioid crisis began in the 1990s but took until the mid-2010s to gain national media and political attention, and a similar (albeit shorter) lag plagued lawmakers’ response to fentanyl. The Senate’s passage of the Kids Online Safety Act sponsored by Richard Blumenthal in 2024 came only after a leak of incriminating Facebook files and years of warnings about the deleterious effect of social media on young people’s mental health. Federal action on sports gambling regulation will likely face a similarly protracted timeline.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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“By recognizing that unsafe gambling is not simply a matter of personal irresponsibility, sportsbooks could transform themselves into sustainable businesses that protect public health. Every day they choose not to do so brings them a day closer to reckoning.”

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Book:Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
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