Sports betting revenue tops $11 billion

The juice on SGPs and live bets are practically usurious.

 

UNLV’s gaming department reported straight bets put something like 5 cents per wager into the casinos account. Parlays put 31 cents per wager into it.

That’s why they push them like crazy. Also, very addictive.

 

It's been fascinating in Minnesota how the gambling issue has gotten snagged into a number of different issues.

Somewhat surprisingly, there are hard yes and hard no votes on both sides of the aisle:

Some conservatives are predictably out on morality grounds, while others view it as a personal freedom issue. Some liberals are out on the grounds that gambling is a social ill, while others like it ostensibly because most of the plans direct a lot of the revenue through the state's Native gaming interests.

And that's where the most consistent ideological divide exists. Tim Walz has consistently maintained he would not sign a gambling bill that did not have support from the state's tribes, who have basically insisted on control of almost all forms of gaming in the state, whereas many conservatives have insisted on either books or revenue directed toward two horse-racing tracks in the Cities: Canterbury Park , a thoroughbred track in the south suburbs, and Running Aces, a harness track in the north exurbs.

As much as anything, the biggest obstacle to complicated gambling legalization has been time. By statute, the Minnesota Legislature is part-time and cannot sit after mid-May in a given year. In even-numbered years, the Legislature needs to pass a bonding bill to fund capital improvements like water treatment facilities in cities and new buildings at public universities. However, because the state constitution requires a bonding bill to win a 3/5 majority, the horse-trading necessary to garner enough minority support to get it over the line tends to make the last week of a session into a general clusterfuck, and that's if they even strike a deal at all. In odd numbered years, they need to pass a budget or have a state government shutdown. As someone who didn't grow up in Minnesota, this concept continues to blow my mind, and given the partisanship even in state politics, all it takes is a couple people to get their feelings hurt or something else (last year, it was the Dems slow-playing one of their own members getting arrested for breaking into her estranged mother-in-law's house) to ruin all or most legislative progress in a year.

So basically what happens is, the gambling bill tends to drive into plus territory, they get tackled in bounds and the clock runs out while they're arguing over the particulars. I think they'll get there eventually, maybe within a year or two but I do kind of wonder if stories like this one will turn the tide against it before they can get the deal done.

I was raised Methodist (traditionally, very anti-gambling on the social ill grounds) hard enough that I got a scolding from my parents when I won the high school NCAA Tournament pool. They still give me the side eye when I talk about the fantasy football money leagues I do.

As a bit for a column I never wrote, I was curious if my sports interests would help or hurt me, so I played a game of sorts. Every day I placed one pretend $10 bet on a single event. I could not bet on a team I follow (Michigan teams) or that the paper covered (basically no Minnesota or Wisconsin), and I had to switch sports and formats (ML, spread, total, parlays) each day. I did that all 365 days of 2023 and, if I did my math right, I was ahead $1,318 at the end of the year with a return rate of 36%. I kept doing it into March of this year, when I got bored. I had not been doing particularly well in the previous two months.

 

Are we sure the people blowing their money on football games wouldn't blow their money some way else?

 

I don't buy the addictive personality stuff. I'm addicted to something, but I can not smoke for months without thinking about it. While when I gamble it's for a whole night, I go months without playing.

 

After talking with a Saracen employee, I realize I was wrong about some of this.

The eGaming has been in the works for a few years. While the raffle thing isn’t a Trojan horse, I do see it as a marketing ploy to sell eGaming to the state.

Anyway, I denounce myself.

 

And I read this at lunch, I think it does a good job summing up my thoughts on it too.

Legalized gambling isn't the problem

 

I don't get the argument. Something is okay to be legal, but should have odd barriers to participate in?

 

Due to the addictive combination of gambling and screen time, yes. Maybe. It’s complicated.

 

As one who has a unique perspective…

Sports betting barely brings anything into the government coffers. That’s a way for supporters to say it benefits all. It doesn’t. Slot machines usually bring in about 50-100x what sports betting does for a state.

Sports betting is a Scrooge on both time and money for most bettors, often young men chasing parlays and single-game parlays.

For three years, I put in the time on research but it also took up an incredible amount of time on my end. I had to do it — I wasn’t making what I am now and NEEDED the revenue.

I never went for the “big score”. Slow and steady. I am proud to have taught five people my methods and how I looked for value. I’m proud that each of them is up five figures.

I don’t bet much anymore because I’m making a higher income and most of the books have limited me. However, I help people I meet win about $2500 off the bonuses when I sign them up and bet for them.

My balances:
August 2019: $300 deposit when I started.
March 2020: $650. Then Korean Baseball Doosan Bears overs got me to $1400.
August 2020: $3200
November 2020: $8500. So many bonuses.
January 2021: $12000
April 2021: $23000
June 2021: $32000. Got limited by six books.
March 2022: $43000.

Then I moved to a non-legal state for two years. It was slow and steady… but I met my goals and got out.

Now I’ll bet $10 or $15 here and there. Not obsessive as I was before. But I “got out well ahead”. One of the very few.