Ever wondered why parlays are all over social media, or what the implications of modern sports betting are? Vidyuth Sridhar has the story.
[nat sound: recording of this year’s Northwestern football crowd sound]
By winning the Big Ten and making an appearance in the Rose Bowl, Northwestern’s 1995 football team is widely regarded as one of the greatest groups in Wildcat sports history.
But just a year prior, their 1994 season was riddled with controversy.
Multiple players from that team were indicted for betting on their games, while star running back Dennis Lundy eventually received a sentence after lying about his role in a point-shaving scheme.
Today, US sports still encounter betting scandals. In the NBA, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was arrested last Thursday for allegedly sharing inside information to help bettors, while Hall of Famer and Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups is facing charges for allegedly helping rig poker matches.
But unlike the 90s, the practice is far more legalized and accessible. In fact, 48 percent of American men between the ages of 18 and 49 have at least one sports betting account, per a Siena College and Saint Bonaventure University poll.
I talked with three experts to explore why sports betting is popular today, as well as what its effects are.
Dr. Timothy Fong is a Northwestern alumnus and the co-director of UCLA’s Gambling Studies Program. Fong says that while sports betting has long existed, pastime is now more convenient than ever.
TIMOTHY FONG: Put those three things together, the ability to bet on sports legally in a state, the ability to bet on sports in your home, and the ability to bet on sports with money that you can get onto a website very easily. And then you combine the fourth factor, which is really advertised normalization. When you have tons of advertising and normalization by sports and pop culture and celebrities, you suddenly have a surge of interest.”
But according to Fong it’s not just these factors that incentivize sports betting, it’s our brains too.
FONG: “Specifically when it comes to gambling, you know, it’s similar to what happens in any other highly rewarding activity, like going on a roller coaster, enjoying a glass of wine, or your favorite team winning. There’s going to be changes in what we call a reward system in our brain, where there’s an outpouring of more dopamine and more kinds of pleasure chemicals and neurochemicals associated with reward and tension and motivation.”
Several Northwestern professors have explored how social tendencies like gambling vary across generations. Among them is Dr. Martin Block, a professor emeritus in Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communications program.
MARTIN BLOCK: “I t’s relatively easy to participate in things like fantasy sports and sports betting and the like. There’s not a big ante involved, A N T E ante. In other words, I don’t have to put forth lots of effort to do it. If I’m looking at playing team sports, I’ve got to have transportation to a facility. I’ve got to have equipment and all the like. And it’s perhaps more difficult.”
As experienced consumers of sports and social media, Fong says that Northwestern students are within the target audience of gambling companies.
FONG: “There’s a whole concept where we’re worried about a lot of young men, 16 to 25 who get into sports betting. They love sports, they love technology. They love money, right? It’s super easy. Everybody’s doing it. All their peers are doing it. Why wouldn’t you want to do it? But how many of those young men and women never really get taught how to bet on sports properly, or sports management, or money management, or what the risks are of going in too deep? And so as an example, I saw gambling ad the other day. It’s like a robot, and it says, ‘Bro, you don’t need passive income. You need massive income.’ So that’s the actual slogan for a gambling operator, right? Does promoting all sorts of things to the manosphere and saying, ‘Hey, you want to make tons of money, right?’ And I think those are all false notions, because sports betting is not a way to make spectacular money.”
But to Medill senior Leo Tesler, the Wildcat betting scene remains largely casual.
LEO TESLER: “I hang out with mostly just people who love sports. Less than half of them really bet, and none of them bet super regularly. Again, I’m sure that outside of my friend group, among people who care about sports at this school, it could be more prevalent. But out of people I know, nobody’s blowing crazy money on sports betting.”
He also specified that many Wildcats use 18+ sportsbooks, like Fliff, which utilize workarounds like virtual currencies to legally operate under the Illinois gambling age of 21.
Tesler, who writes and edits betting analysis for The Action Network, also says that while betting content is often disingenuous, insight from dedicated experts can help educate the public.
TESLER: I think content that is specifically geared towards betting, like Action Network, that says, ‘Hey, like we this is what we do. We’re sports betting.’ And if there are writers at ESPN or Bleacher Report who specifically cover sports betting, I think that’s when it’s okay. And that is how people can learn about, not just what picks to make, but how odds work, and how you should think about numbers when you’re putting money on things.”
Ultimately, Fong, Block, and Tesler agreed that sports betting can be addictive and is not a reliable source of income. But they also said that it serves as an engaging, casual activity for many.
Like all pastimes, it’s important to exercise moderation, and if you think you have or are developing a gambling addiction, reach out to resources like the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling or the Gambling Anonymous National Hotline.
From the press box, Vidyuth Sridhar, WNUR News.
