Sports Betting Explodes - $121B industry

[neverfstop]

In honor of March Madness kicking off... 
and the Shohei Ohtani unfolding scandal....   
SO many billions of dollars.....the state are happy to take their share/cut/taxes, some people get their entertainment value of it, but I wonder if it's doing more harm than we realize?

I have such mixed feelings about betting/gambling in general.  More states are certainly legalizing sports betting and/or allowing online.

-->see state graphic here www.axios.com/2023/09/09/sports-betting-nfl-legal


www.axios.com/2024/03/18/sports-betting-march-madness-2024

The $2.72 billion estimate is around 2.2% of the total number of legal sports bets placed last year, the AGA wrote in a post on X.

A total of $121 billion in bets were placed on all sports in 2023, a 30% increase from 2022, DeBaun said.

[redheadbaker]

I hate hate HATE the constant ads for sports betting while I'm watching a game on TV. It's even worked into the commentary during the game and during pre- and post-game shows and intermission reports. 

[tacokick]

Yeah, Hogan legalized it in 2021 but it didn’t become available until Nov 2023 and there are so many commercials for it! There were countdown commercials.

[VillainV]

It just became legal in my state, and there are SO MANY ADS.

Also, it’s really bad that these sports books are actual sponsors for the major sports leagues.

[curbsideprophet]

As someone living in a state where things recently changed, I hate it. So many ads now. They were definitely giving money away to get people to sign up. I assume they figure if they can get you in they can get you hooked.

[aprilsails]

It's been legal in my province for a couple of years now and other than when you are actively watching sports the ads have tapered off. It was absolutely obnoxious for quite a while though. I figure they have gotten the majority of people hooked and there's no point in spending more money on advertising while the cash is flowing in like a river.

It's a disgusting and predatory industry.

[meanie]

We watch so many games that we would never watch because my H bets. College basketball game in Hawaii? Yep. Women's badminton tournament in Serbia? We would if you could bet on it!

Sports betting has also made golf so popular again, which is cool, but now it's a bunch of bros throwing their beer cans on the green and booing the golfers.

[archiethedragon]

booze, weed and gambling, all state approved. What else would a person want?