Background:
Sports Betting, in the US specifically, is a pretty new thing. In fact, sports betting only became legalized in the US in May of 2018 where the Supreme Court struck down the Amateur Sports Protection Act, [1] making it illegal for private corporations to gamble on sports. This decision caused many ripples throughout the United States. Firstly, 34% of people thought that sports betting should not have been legalized in the first place, [2] and disapproved of the Supreme Court even more. This only aided the distrust in the Supreme Court in recent years, as well as airing many ethical concerns for minors, who may be targeted, and adults, who may develop addictions. Finally, this economically left a new very profitable sector that many new companies try to take advantage of leading to the rise, fame, and the money that comes with sports betting overall. From 2018, where a nonexistent legal sector was, now one in five adults report having sports bet legally in the past, along with minors as well. [3]
The three main companies in the sports betting industry are Flutter Entertainment, DraftKings, and MGM Resorts. These three companies equal a valuation of nearly 60 billion dollars with many other companies worth billions of dollars as well. This already highlights the extremely high profit margins these companies have due to how much they grew in such a short amount of time. It also implies how that “high chance” of winning may not be that high at all.[4]
Economic Impacts:
Sports betting companies are incredibly beneficial for the government, as they have paid nearly 4.3 billion dollars since 2018. [5] In February of 2024, the US government highlighted how sports betting has created money to help aid already existing programs and introduce more for highways, parks, law enforcement and schools. This also largely contributed to the state level legalization of sports betting in 38 states and many more that might follow. Along with this, the expansion of sports betting brought in many jobs as well. [6] These all highlight how online sports betting has impacted the 2 most prevalent issues with the US economy: the deficit, and unemployment.
Furthermore, as previously stated, sports betting has been done in the US mainly untaxed [8]. By legalizing all online sports betting, this allowed the government and states to profit off the sports betting that was already happening. Although, this only increased the attention to the industry and the addiction comes along with it.
Social Concerns:
The introduction of sports betting brought in the biggest concern of addiction in adults alone. The American Psychological Association stated how gambling addictions on the internet may be the most dangerous ever seen. It states also how gamblers have a 96% chance to have another mental illness along with it, showing the real harm there is. [8]. This was theorized to be due to the online gambling introduction, sports betting -all allowing people to easily get hooked with only the need of a smartphone. Gambling addictions are incredibly dangerous as they can change one’s mental tendencies and emotional stability. This gets even more detrimental when talking about minors, and the tendencies they may develop with the advertising of such gambling. Minors, most of whom do not have a fully developed brain (problem solving), may develop gambling addictions easier and can also hurt their mental growth overall in the future as they age. Online gambling has only increased the chances of this, and made this warning into a reality.
Overall, the rise and fame of gambling in the US has been very high, ever since the legalization of gambling by the supreme court indicated a dark turn for the future of gambling. While some try to argue how this only helps regulate the already thriving sports betting industry, the legalization of sports betting gives way to targeted campaigns on minors with social media platforms. The disadvantages of sports betting greatly outweigh the positive revenue the government can use due to the life long issues many Americans may face. Online sports betting will only continue looming over Americans for years to come as it grows in popularity exponentially.
[1]https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/us/politics/supreme-court-sports-betting-new-jersey.html
[4]https://www.fool.com/research/biggest-sports-betting-companies/
[5]https://www.fool.com/research/sports-betting-tax-revenue-by-state/
[6]https://nsla.nv.gov/c.php?g=1356622&p=10017258&t=131563
[7] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/briefing/the-rise-of-sports-betting.html
[8] https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2002/03/gambling-online