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At Super Bowl, Sports Betting will Continue To Dominate, Despite Addiction Risks

A March Madness swimming pool at the workplace. Maybe an unique trip to Vegas to see baseball. A Kentucky Derby celebration. Fantasy football. Gambling on sports was irregular, typically unofficial – little potatoes.

Then in 2018, the floodgates opened. That’s when the Supreme Court struck down an across the country ban on sports wagering. Since then, 38 states have legalized some type of on sports.

As the Super Bowl releases with a ridiculous kicking contest between Eli and Peyton Manning sponsored by the sportsbook FanDuel – which, naturally, you can wager on – audiences are primed to see even more focus on sports wagering in the years ahead.

“Over the course of the last 10 or 15 years it’s slowly progressed to the point where it’s a routine part of our society now,” said Eric Esterline, the director of sports journalism and interaction at the University of Florida. “And the innovation has made it more accessible to the public regularly.”

Yet despite the mixture of slapstick farce and glitzy celebrity cameos in the inescapable TV ads for sportsbooks, the increase of these apps has a darker side. The easy access to legal gambling seems to be fueling an increase in addiction, with some dependency therapists reporting getting more calls for help than ever.

“I’m extremely anxious about the public health impacts of this increase in legalized sports betting wagering. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets any better,” said Jesse Dallery, Ph.D, a professor of psychology at UF and specialist on addiction. “Eventually I believe there will be some backlash as folks acknowledge they’re being made use of by these business.”

Crafted much like slot devices in a casino, sportsbooks apps create the best situation for hacking our brains, Dallery stated. Wins are almost random, which reinforces the desire to bet again looking for the next prize. With live wagering and fast benefits on every play, the apps provide lots of quick hits each video game.

And the ubiquitous ads are tailored to reach ever broader groups of individuals, even those who would never step foot in a Vegas casino.

“Where gaming was a minority interest previously, these companies now need to reach the higher American public,” Esterline stated. “They wish to pick a diverse set of stars to reach different audiences. That’s a method used by marketing business to develop trust. Having someone like Eli or Peyton Manning or J.B. Smoove indicates you can associate with various elements of our culture.”

The other method the apps develop rapport is with low-risk, friendly bets. Some apps use refunds for a brand-new customer’s very first bad bet. All of them give individuals the chance to wager just a few bucks. And prop bets, which let fans bet on easy-to-understand aspects like the total score of a video game, reel in individuals who may be unfamiliar with standard wagering.

Newer apps like Fliff even target those under 21 with complimentary wagering sweepstakes. Targeting more youthful people, particularly teenagers looking for an escape, can set them up for a lifelong relationship with sports betting. “Those youth who are more isolated or lonesome are more vulnerable to these type of addicting habits,” Dallery stated.

Even the leagues have a complex relationship with the ascendant betting industry they support and take advantage of. They generate money from official deals with the apps but try to implement stringent anti-gambling guidelines for their players, to minimal success.

For example, the NFL has actually already softened its anti-gambling policies. While attempting to hold the line on banking on football video games, in 2023 they toned down penalties for betting on other sports from within football centers and restored some players who were suspended for contravening of earlier guidelines.

“The NFL does this all the time. They outlawed touchdown events, then entirely drew back on that,” Esterline stated. With how extensive sports betting remains in society now, they have little hope of reining it in among their gamers.