Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer
I tried mobile sports betting for the first time three weeks ago before the NFL playoff season.
A friend referred me through the popular FanDuel sportsbook.
I’m a seasoned sports fan, and I’m a regular fantasy football player, but I had always held off on real gambling.
But after a few weeks on this app, I’m convinced that this will be the next Opioid-esque crisis in America.
Sports gambling is being pushed in an all out blitz, and everyone is getting rich — except for the people betting.
After I downloaded FanDuel — one of many sports books my friends use — I was up and running in minutes. I used Apple Pay to instantly transfer $25 into my account from my credit card.
I was blown away by how fast my bet placed. My first bet was actually accidental — I assumed I would have to go through another processing screen.
After that money was gone, I received $150 in free bets, which I of course wagered, too.
Once you have the app, it sends you regular notifications filled with emojis. You have money in your account — use it!
Later that weekend, Fanduel suggested a fun parlay bet — a set of wagers linked together for a bigger payout. I said, hey, why not, and put another $10 in for that.
I ended up breaking even for the weekend. And I admit, it made the games more fun.
But, wait. I broke even because I received $200 in free bets.
And then, during the week, my credit card charged me $10 for each money transfer — a policy I was totally unaware of when I made the initial deposits.
I consider myself lucky. My vice is less gambling and more dessert. So I have been able to restrain myself from moving more money in.
But for many people, including many of my friends, they’re hooked.
My basketball and football group chats are now heavily focused on betting discussion. Betting used to be in the background, now it’s in the foreground.
A friend who lives close to a casino told me, “When it was legalized but not set up on mobile yet, I would go to the casino and bet before games now and again, which is only 4 [minutes] away,” he said.
“But just that 4 [minute] hurdle would be enough to deter me from going. Because I’d think I have to get in the car, find parking, take out cash, etc, etc. On mobile I barely move my thumb and can reload my account.”
If you watch sports now, you have to be prepared for an onslaught of betting talk.
ESPN talks it regularly. Right now “Super Bowl Betting” is prominently featured on their home page.
Commentators promote sports books throughout games.
Every commercial break has high profile celebrities and athletes pushing the wonderful merits of sports betting.
Jamie Foxx on a movie set for MGM.
Kevin Hart using Draftkings.
JB Smoove and Peyton, Eli, Archie, and Cooper Manning for Caesars.
Mega-rich celebrities are paid mega money to push a business built on taking money from normal Americans.
The scale of the advertising alone tells you what a ridiculously profitable business it must be. All of it is coming from Americans losing money doing something many are addicted to.
Just like the opioid crisis, who is looking out for normal people?
The New York State government? Why would it?
On Jan. 13, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that in the one year since mobile sports betting was legalized, “the State has collected more than $709.2 million in taxes on such bets, a figure that leads the nation.”
The governor’s office said, “An additional $200 million in licensing fees has also been collected, generating a total of more than $909 million in revenue, most of it to be used for education.”
$909 million in the first year!
The Governor’s office, of course, provides the gambling problem hotline free at the end of the press release, just as FanDuel does whenever you log in.
That’s like The Simpsons, when bully Nelson grabs nerd Millhouse’s fist and forces him to punch himself in the face.
“Stop hitting yourself!” he mocks.
You know money is dirty when it must be used “for education” to be palatable to the general public.
Betting apps utilize the same model as drug dealers. They start you for free and create the initial illusion of success, in hopes that you will develop bad habits and addiction.
Then, they turn the faucet off and pump you for money.
The ability to instantly ruin your life, right in the palm of your hands.
I had fun betting on sports. I may do it again for the Super Bowl. I’ll admit, I felt that rush.
So I’m not necessarily suggesting it be banned outright. But this is clearly heading someplace very bad. And it doesn’t neatly map onto any angle of our endless culture war, so it hasn’t fully been picked up by politicians.
New York State trumpeted the success of earning $909 million in revenue off of these apps in their first year.
Is that worth celebrating?
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