The Rising Human Cost of Sports Betting
New York TimesJan 31, 2022
The American Gaming Association (AGA) on Tuesday projected that more than 50M people – approximately one-fifth of the US population – will place bets on Sunday's Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, for a total of about $16B.
This comes as data from an online survey on behalf of the AGA indicates that about 30M adults will make wagers online, at a retail sportsbook, or with a bookie, and 28M people will casually bet with friends in some type of pool or squares contest.
It’s disgraceful that sports governing bodies that long expressed opposition to gambling, such as the NFL, have jumped on the bandwagon of the multimillion-dollar sports betting industry while almost 7M Americans struggle with gambling addiction. Casual betting may be fun in the moment, but sportsbooks are using Super Bowl week to get people hooked on their devastating product.
Sports betting has been a huge boost for fans, who are now extra invested in the games they already love. NFL games, in particular, have been enhanced by legal gambling, especially with the exotic prop bets offered in relation to the Super Bowl. Most legalized betting operations have ways of setting limits to make sure gamblers can enjoy the thrill but also wager responsibly.
There's a 44% chance that the Eagles will win the Super Bowl, according to the Metaculus prediction community.