How Sports Betting Has Changed the U.S. ⇥ rollingstone.com

David Hill, Rolling Stone:

PASPA, which stands for the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, was a law in the U.S. that prohibited sports betting, except in a few states, like Nevada. It was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2018, and ever since, sports gambling has exploded into the American zeitgeist. Ads for sportsbooks have dominated televised events, made their way into the stadiums and arenas of professional and collegiate sports alike, and even onto the jerseys of the athletes themselves. Talk of point spreads and totals, once taboo over the airwaves, are now not only common topics among the sports commentariat, but also displayed in the chyron scoreboards right on the screen. It seems like everyone who isn’t betting on sports likely has someone in their life who is. Revenues for sports-betting companies reached nearly $11 billion in 2023, up 44.5 percent from the year before.

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According to NCPG, 16 percent of sports bettors meet the criteria for clinical gambling disorder. Men between the ages of 18 and 24 are particularly at risk, creating what [NCPG executive director Keith] Whyte calls a “ticking time bomb” of young people growing up not knowing what it’s like to not have a sportsbook in their pocket at all times.

Drew Gooden made a video about the same subject and, last year, the Fifth Estate investigated sports betting in Canada after it was legalized here in 2021.

It is strange to me how the world of sports gambling is now just an open business like any other. It makes sense to me that it is legal, but to integrate it so tightly with every aspect of a competition is something I admit to being confused about and a little troubled by. I do not mean to be squeamish about adults having a little fun. But it seems to now be just part of how sports are discussed: not about athletics or strategy, but about all the money you could make. Or, probably, lose.

If one downloads Apple’s Sports app, for example, betting odds are displayed near the top of the screen for every game, just below the current score. This is on by default; it is up to users to turn it off. While a user cannot make a bet from within the app, it seems to treat this vice with uncharacteristic casualness.