Sports Betting is Soaring!
It is March Madness time! That is time for 1000 basketball games over 3 extended weekends. It is time for brackets. Office pools. Upsets. And “one shining moment.”
It is also time for Sports Betting and large amounts of gambling which give new meaning to March Madness.
It is estimated that $3 Billion of bets will be made on March Madness this year. For me, that sounds like $3 Billion of losses.
On March 16, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO covered the topic of sports betting and how mainstream it has become. With his usual mix of humor and stark reality, Oliver presents an amazing story about the economic incentives for everyone involved - including the sports leagues themselves.
It is no surprise that these platforms use the same psychological techniques of a Las Vegas Casino because it works! The investing app Robinhood uses the same methods on their platform.
Everytime a major sporting event is on, you can know it is driving a lot of revenue in a lot of places including gambling. The American Gaming Association ahead of the Super Bowl put out an official press release with the title Record 68 Million Americans to Wager $23.1B on Super Bowl LVIII
You can read that release here.
https://www.americangaming.org/record-68-million-americans-to-wager-23-1b-on-super-bowl-lviii/
Check out the episode of Last Week Tonight (reminder that this is HBO and not all content is made for network TV)
Seems like an oxymoron when they say to gamble responsibly!
Here is an article about how much is expected to be bet on March Madness.
As always, if you come across a financially related article you’d like to send my way please do!
Best place to send them is to me.
More next time!
Jonathan