In 2018, the Supreme Court repealed a 26-year federal ban on sports betting. This ruling unleashed the biggest gambling boom in America’s 249-year history.
Since 2018, the amount wagered on sports bets has grown from $5 billion to $150 billion annually. 58% of college students have bet on sports. 50% of all men below 50 have an online sports betting account. Nearly every part of a sports game is bet on: the first player to commit a foul in a basketball game, the outcome of an NFL coin toss, the duration of the 7th inning stretch song in baseball, the color of Gatorade dumped on the winning coach at the Super Bowl. And, the cherry on top: 97% of users lose money on sports betting.
How did sports betting become legal? It’s a fascinating story involving four characters.
Bill Bradley: who America aspires to be. Bradley was an NBA player and New Jersey senator who introduced PASPA, the law that banned sports betting in the US in 1992. Bradley is charming, disciplined, and principled. An all-American hero.
Chris Christie: who America is. Christie was the governor of New Jersey who fought to legalize sports betting by repealing PASPA. He’s a realist who understood his residents’ demand for sports betting. He himself was a big sports fan, indulgent, and a lover of spectacle.
Jeremy Kudon: who America pays. Kudon is a lawyer and lobbyist that helped legalize fantasy sports and, later, sports betting across US states. He is tactically brilliant at working state legislatures to enact or repeal laws on behalf of his clients.
Ted Olson: who America listens to. Olson is a prominent constitutional lawyer who argued the case to repeal PASPA in the District Courts and Supreme Court. He was central to cases involving legalizing gay marriage, upholding the second amendment, and the landmark campaign financing ruling in Citizens United.
Creation of Fantasy Sports: When the American Sports Fan Changed Forever
In 1979, the American sports fan started to change; in retrospect, forever. A writer Dan Okrent taught his friends a new game: players picked a fantasy baseball team from the pool of real-life baseball players. You win by being the best at predicting what your handpicked baseball players will do in the actual game. This game was called fantasy baseball.
Fantasy play spread to other sports like basketball and football. People bet small amounts of money to participate in fantasy sports contests with their friends. Those who chose the best performing fantasy teams got to keep the pot.
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