How legalized sports betting changed the fan experience

A few days before Christmas, I went to see the NHL’s Nashville Predators take on the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Colorado Avalanche, on home ice.

Among all the silliness of the modern professional sports experience – home teams slipping out of giant saber-toothed heads, mistletoe kiss cams, little rock bands playing seasonal hits during periods – DraftKings ads There was a constant stream. A company known as a sportsbook that bets on sporting events and pays out winnings.

The name flashed prominently in the jumbotron above center ice when the starting lineup was announced. That logo reappeared as the crew rushed to clear the ice during a timeout. The “DraftKings Sportsbook” was not only on the yellow jackets worn by the people shoveling the shaved ice, but also on the carts used to collect the ice.

This all comes just days after the Predators announced a multi-year partnership with another sportsbook, BetMGM. This includes the BetMGM restaurant and bar, as well as the billboard at its home venue, Bridgestone Arena.

If I had kept my head up that night, I could have accessed a sports betting app on my smartphone and bet on the game.Tennessee is one of 33 states and the District of Columbia where sports betting is legal. . On January 31, 2023, Massachusetts became the latest state to legalize the practice.

Here are the points that describe the whole scene: Nearly five years after the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting, an entire industry has sprung up and is now just a part of it for tens of millions of fans across the country. Spectacle, show, play.

The seamless integration of betting into American sports cannot be ignored even among non-betting fans, but it marks a noticeable change to activities that were banned in much of the country just a few years ago. represents.

new sports world

Let’s start by looking at the numbers.

US$180.2 billion has been legally wagered on sports since May 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a law limiting sports betting to four states, including Nevada. According to figures provided to me by industry research and lobbying group AGA, this has brought in $13.7 billion in revenue for sportsbooks.

Before the NFL kicked off last September, the AGA reported that 18% of American adults (more than 46 million) were planning to bet this season. Most of them were likely to be wagered through legitimate channels rather than so-called corner bookmakers or illegal operatives.

So who bets on sports? increase. They are younger, more masculine, and earn more. ”

They are people like Christian Santosuosso, a 26-year-old creative marketing professional from Brooklyn, New York. Santosuosso didn’t bet on the game until it was legal. Now, he and his pals pool their money on NFL Sundays to spark both interest in the game and conversation in the room.

“It’s entertainment,” he told me in a phone interview. He explained that even tough gambling losses are funny and laughable, and a way to reflect on the mistakes a team makes that affect whether or not they win a bet. added that there is

Interview/interview

Shortly after the 2018 Supreme Court ruling, I wrote an article for The Conversation asking if media would start producing content for bettors.

The answer was a clear “yes”. It seems to have helped change the topic of sports betting.

If you look at the front page of ESPN.com as I write this, you can see that the University of Georgia is ahead of Texas Christian University by 13.5 points in the college football national championship. It’s front and center, right next to kick-off time and the television network it’s airing on.

But it sucks.

ESPN has been broadcasting the game show “Daily Wager” since 2019. In September 2022, the sports conglomerate announced a new set of content centered around betting advice and picks. Also, SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt is famous for his “Bad Beats” segment. Van Pelt usually highlights how the team on the winning side of his spread collapses in the last second of his points in a crazy way.

Meanwhile, on YouTube, a cottage industry of betting chip channels is emerging. Type “#sportsbetting” into the YouTube search bar and you’ll find thousands of channels.

Another example of how things have changed: On January 2, 2023, the University of Utah football team got the ball first and scored with 43 seconds remaining to trail Penn State by 21 points in the Rose Bowl. I put on The game is essentially over. However, commentators noted that the touchdown meant a lot to some people.

Who? why? The announcer didn’t elaborate, but the implications were clear. Those betting overs that the two teams together bet he would score 54 or more points had a lot to do with that touchdown. In a way, so did ESPN. In the event of a large explosion, fans of both teams could faint. But with money on something like an overcoat, my eyes are glued to the screen.

Utah scored on third down with 25 seconds remaining. Final scores: Pennsylvania 35, Utah 21.

danger and ceiling

I have been editing sports articles since the early 1990s and have run the sports journalism program at Penn State University since 2013. Now I’ve noticed that my students routinely talk about point spreads (expected margin of victory) and over-unders as well. , a bet on the total number of points scored.

It didn’t happen all that often when I first got into State University, or in the newsroom before that.

Sports leagues used to be vehemently opposed to gambling. And while there are still concerns about discouraging players from betting, many leagues, especially the NFL, have undergone a complete turnaround since legalization.

There are multiple reasons for this change of heart. Where once there was concern that betting scandals would erode the integrity of the game, sports leagues can now argue that legal betting allows them to better monitor possible cheating. increase. A large number of bets on one team, or a sudden change in betting patterns, can all show up in the sportsbook and indicate malicious activity.

Fan interest in legal gambling is also very high, with 56% of American adults and nearly 7 in 10 males reading at least a little bit about how prevalent legal sports betting is today. I tell Pew that there is something.

And, of course, a lot of money came from a new sponsorship group, Sportsbooks, which saw overall NFL sponsorship revenue reach a record $1.8 billion for the 2021 season.

Of course, the danger is gambling addiction.

The AGA is also quick to note that member companies have committed to providing customers with information about problem gambling, but legalization has provided easier and safer access to sports betting. There is no doubt that

Keith White, executive director of the National Gambling Council, said in a telephone interview that research by his group found that about 25% of American adults bet on sports, somewhat higher than the AGA estimates. That percentage jumped from about 15% before the Supreme Court’s ruling, according to the NCPG.

While this is a significant increase, it also suggests that we are probably nearing the upper limit. So even if every state legalized sports betting, White speculated that more people wouldn’t bet on it. .

“I think it’s changing the market in many ways,” White said.