The current state of sports betting in the US

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by miles, Feb 17, 2025.

?

Do we need changes? If so, what are they?

  1. It's fine. No changes necessary

    1.9%
  2. Legal, but need to get advertising under control

    49.0%
  3. Limitations in the way companies can draw people in or attempt to keep them engaged

    54.1%
  4. Outlaw it again

    24.8%
  5. Other types of changes

    8.3%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. miles

    miles All I know is my gut says, maybe
    Donor

    What are people's thoughts on the current state of sports betting in this country?

    I'm currently of the opinion that it should be legal, but one thing I find questionable at best is the kind of traps that apps and companies push on people who may be trying to quit. Particularly things like notifications and incentives using tailored information from your history to try to keep you engaged.
     
    Celemo, Tiffin, Kirk Fogg and 3 others like this.
  2. B-Boy $P1

    B-Boy $P1 Ball-knower, Poster, Trusted Agent
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    Michigan WolverinesChicago CubsLos Angeles LakersChicago BearsChicago BlackhawksBorussia DortmundWest Ham UnitedBall State CardinalsOlympics

    Shouldn't be able to make deposits with credit
     
    slhorn, Biship, Louis Holth and 43 others like this.
  3. —

    Well-Known Member
    Donor

    Advertising needs limited. You should be able to do it but you don’t need Kevin Hart and LeBron telling you to make same game parlays every commercial break.

    And limiting ways they draw you in. The influencer marketing is stupid as hell and no I dont want a parlay from Stephen A Smith that he definitely isn’t betting and definitely was thrown together by an intern at the deadline.
     
  4. Corky Bucek

    Corky Bucek Placeholder for a Custom Title
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    Auburn TigersLos Angeles LakersLos Angeles RamsAnaheim DucksManchester UnitedLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim

    Curb the advertising of the ridiculous parlays that hit. Also limit parlays in some way shape or form.
     
    racer likes this.
  5. B-Boy $P1

    B-Boy $P1 Ball-knower, Poster, Trusted Agent
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    Michigan WolverinesChicago CubsLos Angeles LakersChicago BearsChicago BlackhawksBorussia DortmundWest Ham UnitedBall State CardinalsOlympics

    Every parlay ad has to include the total odds of the play that hit
     
  6. —

    Well-Known Member
    Donor

    Limiting parlays will be executed in the stupidest way possible.


    “Limit to +500 odds so people don’t chase the lotto ticket parlay!”

    result would be people putting in 10 leg alt player point total parlays that that should be 150/1 but instead are getting 5/1
     
    letan, FTK, ohhaithur and 5 others like this.
  7. —

    Well-Known Member
    Donor

    Most of them do but people don’t know how to read them
     
    tylerdolphin, wes tegg and NFM like this.
  8. Goose

    Goose Hi
    Donor
    Ohio State BuckeyesCincinnati BearcatsCincinnati RedsCincinnati BengalsReal MadridXavier MusketeersDayton FlyersFC CincinnatiPGA

    Whatever rules cigarettes have for advertising is what sports gambling needs
     
  9. racer

    racer Fuck Tucker, Tucker sucks.
    Donor
    Iowa HawkeyesKansas City ChiefsLas Vegas Golden KnightsOlympicsFormula 1

    No mobile or electronic deposit of any sort. Cash on site at a casino or satellite services like pay near me.
    No advertising in conjunction with parties that can be wagered - teams, leagues, players
    Limit on co-branding with media outlets or other non-gaming entities (ex. No ESPNBet, Barstool sports book, etc.)

    bonus:
    Legal to open-hand assault anyone who brings their bets or odds up unprompted in any situation
     
    Biship, El_Pato, Roy and 6 others like this.
  10. afb

    afb Spoiler Alert: Pawnee, IN may not be on a map.
    Donor
    Florida State SeminolesBig Ten Conference

    much like guns in this country, get rid of all of it but it'll never happen
     
  11. BudKilmer

    BudKilmer Well-Known Member
    Donor TMB OG
    Atlanta HawksAtlanta FalconsAvengers

    Back in my day, when I wanted to bet on the ponies, I had to give my slip to a goomba named Sarducci
     
    El_Pato, b7, CUAngler and 7 others like this.
  12. JonathanCoachman

    JonathanCoachman The Coach
    Donor
    EvertonSouth Carolina Gamecocks

    You should at least have to leave your bedroom and go out in public to place a bet.
     
    El_Pato, Roy, Blu Tang Clan and 6 others like this.
  13. —

    Well-Known Member
    Donor

    I think many people are underestimating how clueless legislators are.


    Florida legalizes sports betting with single license monopoly :lol:

    California has no legal sports betting but “pick ‘em” (literally parlays) with props is legal on PrizePicks, underdog, etc
     
  14. Marty Kaan

    Marty Kaan By any means necessary
    Donor

  15. Racki

    Racki All is well on Unicorn Island
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    Penn State Nittany LionsPhiladelphia PhilliesPhiladelphia EaglesPhiladelphia Flyers

    I was pro gambling for a long time. They put a casino in my area with the promise to reduce property taxes. Well that ended up being a crock of shit and I know way too many people who have destroyed their lives because of that place. So many unreported suicides in the parking lot and the casino paying the fine instead of what they are supposed to pay out on the machines, yet people continue to lose their shirt up there. Also, being able to play casino games from your phone is way too convenient for people, especially ones that are using credit cards to fund their accounts. For every responsible gambler, there are 10 degenerates.
     
  16. ono

    ono Well-Known Member
    Donor
    Kansas JayhawksKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsSeattle SupersonicsSporting Kansas City

    Are you talking the winning odds or what the actual implied odds are? Showing a 100/1 hit should really be something like 250/1 or whatever is more illustrative. Or say that the "book holds average xxx% of money wagered on SGPs"
     
    likes this.
  17. —

    Well-Known Member
    Donor

    The online casinos need to go. Having slots for real money on your phone is an absolute tragedy waiting to happen.
     
    Biship, Louis Holth, El_Pato and 8 others like this.
  18. Bo Pelinis

    Donor TMB OG
    Nebraska CornhuskersKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsBig 8 Conference

    The problem is with shit like gambling, unlike guns, is that it never actually goes away. It just moves to a black market. Having a legal market where there are actual enforced and consistent limitations is really what we should strive for imo. Right now, though, it is the goddamn wild west for advertising and phone access and that ain't it.
     
  19. Goose

    Goose Hi
    Donor
    Ohio State BuckeyesCincinnati BearcatsCincinnati RedsCincinnati BengalsReal MadridXavier MusketeersDayton FlyersFC CincinnatiPGA

    Table games absolutely need to be banned from online gaming
     
    El_Pato, MJH, snowfx2 and 7 others like this.
  20. Where Eagles Dare

    Where Eagles Dare The Specialist Show On Earth
    Donor
    Auburn TigersAtlanta BravesWashington CommandersAtlanta United

    Sports betting is a drain on our society and it's going to fuck a lot of people with its mass availability.

    Talking to people about sports betting is worse than people talking about their fantasy teams. No one gives a fuck you got this game for 2.5pts
     
    Biship, BayouMafia, El_Pato and 11 others like this.
  21. All gambling apps on phones should be replaced with Balatro, that way people can have fun playing games of chance and not lose all their money and kill themselves
     
  22. bruce bowen

    bruce bowen Well-Known Member
    Donor

    Being able to use a credit card is wild shit. That needs to be banned yesterday.
     
    CUAngler, MJH, wes tegg and 4 others like this.
  23. Bo Pelinis

    Donor TMB OG
    Nebraska CornhuskersKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsBig 8 Conference

    I am largely against sin laws but my god, the pervasive betting conversations in every single sports medium makes me want to blow everything up and make it all illegal again. Fuck you and your stupid fucking parlay and your odds. Nobody gives a tiny fuck you scumbag.
     
  24. Bo Pelinis

    Donor TMB OG
    Nebraska CornhuskersKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsBig 8 Conference

    When your announcers are talking odds and shit it's gone so entirely too far, jesus christ.
     
  25. afb

    afb Spoiler Alert: Pawnee, IN may not be on a map.
    Donor
    Florida State SeminolesBig Ten Conference

    my personal opinion is that it's bad regardless, but again the toothpaste is never going back in the tube
     
  26. Goose

    Goose Hi
    Donor
    Ohio State BuckeyesCincinnati BearcatsCincinnati RedsCincinnati BengalsReal MadridXavier MusketeersDayton FlyersFC CincinnatiPGA

    Has a single parlay that’s been advertised pregame ever hit?
     
    devine likes this.
  27. —

    Well-Known Member
    Donor

    I mean bettors care about odds and there are more bettors than ever before.

    but that’s besides the point, sports talk shows suck in general and them mentioning odds does not move the needle. Unless of course you care about hearing the JORDAN VS LEBRON debate for the millionth time or Pat McAfee and his football guys talking about real football weather up der
     
  28. Bo Pelinis

    Donor TMB OG
    Nebraska CornhuskersKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsBig 8 Conference

    Right, but being bad shouldn't really matter in the conversation about whether something should be legal or illegal.
     
  29. theseasonisover

    theseasonisover Well-Known Member
    Donor
    Oregon DucksKansas City RoyalsPortland Trail BlazersKansas City Chiefs

    Found out during the NFL playoffs that kids are “gambling” fake coins on games now on their phones. That seems like dark foreshadowing for a good percentage of them.
     
    Roy, BudKilmer and miles like this.
  30. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
    Donor
    South Carolina GamecocksCarolina PanthersCarolina Hurricanes

    I'd like to hear a measured take from ohhaithur
     
    dump, Hatfield and ohhaithur like this.
  31. —

    Well-Known Member
    Donor

    Brother we had cent sports .com in middle school and could bet change we earned from watching ads. One of my friends even got up to $20 and was able to withdraw!

    this isn’t good now and that wasn’t good back then either but we don’t need to go full gloomer pearl clutch. We had a damn bookie in high school
     
  32. poor paul

    poor paul Well-Known Member
    Donor
    Wrexham AFC

    I want to go back to meeting my bookie in an alley with cash.
     
  33. JonathanCoachman

    JonathanCoachman The Coach
    Donor
    EvertonSouth Carolina Gamecocks

    Stake.Com

    They sponsor my favorite soccer team and I fucking hate it.
     
  34. afb

    afb Spoiler Alert: Pawnee, IN may not be on a map.
    Donor
    Florida State SeminolesBig Ten Conference

    I feel like that is kind of the question you ask when you make something legal/illegal
     
  35. electronic

    electronic your not even allowed to do that
    Donor

    Sports gambling suuuuucks. Needs to be outlawed entirely, but it won’t because lol at America.
     
    Where Eagles Dare likes this.
  36. JonathanCoachman

    JonathanCoachman The Coach
    Donor
    EvertonSouth Carolina Gamecocks

    What??? I had like 200 dollars that I grew from ten cents on there that wasn’t enough to meet the cash out minimum at the time. Lost everything. I think CentSports was a beneficial experience for me. Haven’t gambled on sports since.
     
  37. Bo Pelinis

    Donor TMB OG
    Nebraska CornhuskersKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsBig 8 Conference

    Not really. That may be part of it but it's a lot more about what illegal/legal actual means in the context of the activity. Pragmatism, really. Booze is objectively really bad for society, for instance. Still, here we are.
     
  38. Irush

    Irush Well-Known Member
    Donor TMB OG

  39. JonathanCoachman

    JonathanCoachman The Coach
    Donor
    EvertonSouth Carolina Gamecocks

    Booze was once and probably will be helpful again if things keep going in this direction.

    Make Cholera Terrifying Again!
     
    dump, TC and Bo Pelinis like this.
  40. Handcuffed

    Handcuffed I live inside my own heart, Matt Damon
    Staff Donor
    Seattle MarinersOregon DucksPortland TimbersPortland Trail Blazers

    i don't really buy an argument for it being illegal. but like other things that are deemed to cause societal harm, it should be heavily regulated both in terms of how and where it's advertised and also in how the books can attract vulnerable people.
     
  41. miles

    miles All I know is my gut says, maybe
    Donor

    If you want to hear something really dark, streaming platforms like kick are backed by gambling companies and sign streamers with audiences that are primarily children to huge contracts that require them to stream themselves playing slots or other activities every so often. Just evil shit.
     
  42. ohhaithur

    ohhaithur e-Batman
    Donor

    It's not a surprise to anyone if I said that sports betting is the best thing that ever happened to me, but obviously overall sports betting is a symptom of an overall societal plague in the US. There is no way to repair it

    Problems include:
    • Regulatory capture. Government-mandated oligopolies/monopolies. Regulators who go on to become lobbyists
    • Broken brained young men who need to get rich quick and share their wins on social media
    • A failing education system that doesn't teach probability
    • Public companies needing quarter-over-quarter growth and therefore needing to grow exponentially without worrying about long term damage
    • Unregulated misleading advertising with active athletes and stuff like "risk free bets" that have a ton of risk
    • The fact that ESPNBet exists should make you puke
    • No punishment for companies using their algorithms to ban me from winning, while also claiming they don't have the power to detect problem gambling
    • Disgusting incentives for problem gamblers to increase loyalty. I'm not sure some of you realize just how bad it is
    The part none of you are going to like to hear is that it's only going to get worse. Sports gambling was a Trojan Horse to get casinos legalized in every state. Sports gambling isn't a long-term profit center. Dopamine levels are even higher for casinos and house edges are set, there's no risk of the casinos losing. I've said this before, but DraftKings shutting their sportsbook and just becoming an online casino is certainly part of their business model

    States are already budgeting for sports gambling income, they don't want it gone. They're raising tax rates, which means casinos need to increase hold percentage to continue increasing profit. They are going to bleed everyone dry
     
    #42 ohhaithur, Feb 17, 2025
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2025
    Redav, Hatfield, DriveByBBQ and 20 others like this.
  43. miles

    miles All I know is my gut says, maybe
    Donor

    Can you expand on this?
     
  44. —

    Well-Known Member
    Donor

    I’m sure the friend who was able to withdraw lied! Like most gamblers he was up big every time you asked!
     
    Hatfield likes this.
  45. Racki

    Racki All is well on Unicorn Island
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    Penn State Nittany LionsPhiladelphia PhilliesPhiladelphia EaglesPhiladelphia Flyers

    Very insightful post. You are 1000% correct that it's going to get much worse especially for the younger generation who is constantly being exposed to gambling in some form no matter the media they consume. Like many others have said, there's no putting the toothpaste back in the tube but without additional regulations, this is going to be destructive to so many people and families.
     
    ohhaithur likes this.
  46. Snakes

    Snakes clumsy interloper
    Donor TMB OG
    Alabama Crimson Tide

    I hate sports gambling and the second someone inserts it into a conversation I think less of them.
     
    Hatfield, dump, Red Rover and 3 others like this.
  47. Nole0515

    Nole0515 Well-Known Member
    Donor
    Chicago Bears

    As someone thats a complete degen in a casino I am truly thankful that I never liked sports gambling
     
    dump, LetItSoak, BudKilmer and 3 others like this.
  48. Butthead

    Butthead Fan of: Oregon
    Donor

    The same-game parlay odds are totally unaccountable and should die
     
    Biship, dump, BudKilmer and 2 others like this.
  49. Fran Tarkenton

    Fran Tarkenton Old Enough to not know whats Chappell Roan
    Donor
    Wake Forest Demon DeaconsGeorgia Bulldogs

    give it the tobacco industry treatment

    lol j/k we are going to have a bunch of terminally online males go broke (and then anti-woke because of it)
     
    BudKilmer likes this.
  50. ohhaithur

    ohhaithur e-Batman
    Donor

    Sure, as part of what I do I have to appear to be a loser for a while. I'm a top 0.01% bettor, but if I show that early they'll ban me. So I bet like a dipshit for a while, lose a little money, get status and higher limits, then beat them.

    Here's a list of free things I've received from casinos over the last few years, from least harmful to most harmful, while they thought I was a whale
    • A bunch of free shit. On a nice spring day I can put on my DraftKings fleece, put my DraftKings bottle in my golf bag of DraftKings golf clubs, then come home and sit by my DraftKings Solo Stove and pull a beer out of my DraftKings Yeti
    • Tickets to sporting events, where they have hosts try to get you to bet on the game
    • "Risk free" giant bets. If you bet $5000 and lose, you get a $5000 free bet. Only problem is you can't cash that bet out, you have to bet it again and you don't get your stake back, so it's really only worth like $3000
    • Free bets that were bigger than my normal stake (to try to get me to increase my normal bet size). If you're betting $1000 a pop, you'll get a $2000 free bet so you don't feel anything at $1000 anymore, you have to bet $2000 now.
    • "Lossback promos" - in which if I lose $10,000 or more in a certain amount of time, they'll give 10% of my losses as free bets
    • Promos where you have to bet a certain amount in a certain amount of time to achieve a goal. My biggest being I got $20,000 for betting $200,000 in 48 hours
    • Free trips/food/travel/hotels/casino play. They fly you out somewhere and then threaten you that you'll lose status and fine you if you don't play at the casino an amount "commensurate to your status."
    • I know of someone who had a limo at their house on the days their government benefits came in. The 1st and 15th or whatever. They'd take them to get their check cashed and then drive them to the casino