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While I have no doubt sports betting is much more popular now, I presume the $5 billion figure does not capture the considerable amount of illegal betting that

While I have no doubt sports betting is much more popular now, I presume the $5 billion figure does not capture the considerable amount of illegal betting that happened previously.

deleted 1y ago
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jgalt212 1y ago
If you wanted to bet on sports when I was in college you needed a bookie. Now, you have access to all the legal bookies in the world in your pocket. It's hard to make an argument that something that is now legal and much easier than before is not much more popular than before.
- coffeefirst 1y ago
  And the bookie was a guy you’d call up, shoot the shit, and he was basically everyone’s buddy. There were inherent constraints. He could not advertise. He could not send you push notifications or run AB tests on millions of users.
- decimalenough 1y ago
  And I'm not claiming that, but I also don't think the amount actually gambled has increased by 30x, as the headline $5B to $150B figures imply.
dastbe 1y ago
I was interested in this, so perusing I found https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ngisc/reports/2.pdf https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ngisc/reports/2.pdf which estimates in the late 90s "Estimates of the scope of illegal sports betting in the United States range anywhere from $80 billion to $380 billion annually, making sports betting the most widespread and popular form of gambling in America." which seems surprising even at the low end. similarly from https://www.americangaming.org/new-aga-report-shows-americans-gamble-more-than-half-a-trillion-dollars-illegally-each-year/ https://www.americangaming.org/new-aga-report-shows-american... in 2022 "AGA’s report estimates that Americans wager $63.8 billion with illegal bookies and offshore sites at a cost of $3.8 billion in gaming revenue and $700 million in state taxes. With Americans projected to place $100 billion in legal sports bets this year, these findings imply that illegal sportsbook operators are capturing nearly 40 percent of the U.S. sports betting market." I think what would be more interesting to me is estimates on the unique number of citizens betting. Is it up? If so, how appreciably?

While I have no doubt sports betting is much more popular now, I presume the $5 billion figure does not capture the considerable amount of illegal betting that happened previously.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

jgalt212 1y ago

If you wanted to bet on sports when I was in college you needed a bookie. Now, you have access to all the legal bookies in the world in your pocket. It's hard to make an argument that something that is now legal and much easier than before is not much more popular than before.

coffeefirst 1y ago
And the bookie was a guy you’d call up, shoot the shit, and he was basically everyone’s buddy. There were inherent constraints. He could not advertise. He could not send you push notifications or run AB tests on millions of users.
decimalenough 1y ago
And I'm not claiming that, but I also don't think the amount actually gambled has increased by 30x, as the headline $5B to $150B figures imply.

dastbe 1y ago

I was interested in this, so perusing I found https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ngisc/reports/2.pdf https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ngisc/reports/2.pdf which estimates in the late 90s "Estimates of the scope of illegal sports betting in the United States range anywhere from $80 billion to $380 billion annually, making sports betting the most widespread and popular form of gambling in America." which seems surprising even at the low end. similarly from https://www.americangaming.org/new-aga-report-shows-americans-gamble-more-than-half-a-trillion-dollars-illegally-each-year/ https://www.americangaming.org/new-aga-report-shows-american... in 2022 "AGA’s report estimates that Americans wager $63.8 billion with illegal bookies and offshore sites at a cost of $3.8 billion in gaming revenue and $700 million in state taxes. With Americans projected to place $100 billion in legal sports bets this year, these findings imply that illegal sportsbook operators are capturing nearly 40 percent of the U.S. sports betting market." I think what would be more interesting to me is estimates on the unique number of citizens betting. Is it up? If so, how appreciably?