Sports betting revenue tops $11 billion

No one saw that coming.

 

Booze kills people every day.

 

I’ve never understood why agents/managers don’t advise people like Kevin Hart and Jamie Foxx and Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid (and on and on) to steer clear of gambling ads.

It’s like peddling oxy.

 

Online gambling is on the ballot in Missouri. The proponents say the money will go to schools (they said the same about the lottery 38 years ago), but I have my doubts. As much as I like the idea of being able to legally gamble here, I don't trust this state gov as far as I can throw it. If it passes, it will hurt a lot of people who have no idea how to gamble and will lose their asses. I might dip my pinkie toe in, but that's about it. I like blackjack better anyway.

 

Saracen - one of the casinos in Arkansas - is pushing to get full-on mobile betting legalized. They are Trojan horsing it under the guise of helping the Razorbacks with NIL by getting 50/50 raffles legalized with half going to NIL and half to the individual who wins. But Saracen's people say that can only be done if online slots, craps, roulette, etc. is allowed.

You talk about people losing their asses? That will break a lot of people.

 

I always used to say that the advantage of sports betting was that it took three hours to lose money on a ballgame, and there were 30 minutes between horse races, whereas in the casino you can lose money in five seconds, but technology has changed that. The ads for the betting companies here don't sound all that different from a crack dealer's pitch. To anyone who got to middle school math, the bets they're touring are strictly for suckers, or in this case, newbies. Instant gratification! For them.

 

There are a bunch of fantasy focused shows, at least on Sirius XM. The gambling shows outnumber the fantasy stuff, but it’s still there.

 

For the record, I like live blackjack at the casino. I like the action.

We have a riverboat casino about 30 minutes away, but I only go once every few years. I know my addictive personality, but at least I can control it a bit by not going very much.

I like Las Vegas but have only been there four or five times. I'm up lifetime there.

 

Saw some post on Instagram talking about how much money the online sports books have made, something like $11 billion, and the fact that 91 percent of it comes from parlays. No one finds joy out of placing $10 to win $9.20 (your typical -110 bet). They all want the rush of that big +1900 parlay hitting. Of course the odds are that way for a reason. I still dabble in parlays, usually just one a weekend, but I also like just putting $10 on a ML or spread of a game that's on at the bar just to keep me engaged in a game I'd otherwise not care about. I'm looking at you, CBS Sports Network's Patriot League hoops coverage at 6 p.m. on weekdays.

 

Patriot League? Fucking liar!!!