February 7, 2023 • 40 mins
The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sports betting days of the year, and it’s now legal to bet on the Super Bowl in more than 30 states. Host Roy Wood Jr. sits down with Daily Show correspondent, Michael Kosta and gambling industry reporter for ESPN, David Purdum, for a conversation about how professional sports leagues are embracing the new profit potential, whether the ease of access to mobile sports betting makes people more vulnerable to gambling addiction, and what’s being done to enforce responsible gambling.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Beyond the Scenes, the podcast that goes a
little deeper into segments and topics that originally aired on
The Daily Show. This is what you gotta think of
this podcast, Like, this podcast is like when you go
to a Super Bowl party and you're there to root
for your team, but you're also there for the commercials,
to have time, show the chicken wings and endless pictures
of beer, and to bet how soon your friend Gabridge's
(00:28):
gonna pass out from autemn tequila shots. Wake up, Gary
stopped being a bit. It was just fourteen shots. That's
what this podcast is. I'm Roy Wood Jr. And today
we're talking about this weekend Super Bowl and the legalization
of sports betting roll mc clip. Since the Supreme Court
cleared the way for sports betting in the States, other
(00:50):
than in Nevada, a growing number of states have legalized
sports gambling. Sports betting revenue expected to go from two
point five billion dollars this year to nearly nineteen billion
into The n c a A and professional sports leads
had long opposed sports betting, saying it could hurt the
integrity of the game, but as soon as the Supreme
Court freed stage to legalize sports betting last May. The
(01:12):
pro leagues immediately reversed course. Within months of the ruling,
the NBA, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League
all made deals with MGM in the NFL partnered up
with Caesar's Palace. Today I'm joined by Daily Show correspondent
Michael Costa. Costa is always good to have you on.
How you doing, brother, Thanks for having me, appreciate it.
(01:32):
Good to see you. And we are also joined by
gambling industry reporter for ESPN, David Purdam. David, how are
you doing. I'm great man, Thanks for having me on. Now, David,
let's talk about the Super Bowl. You know, um super
Bowl vv x l x I i'd whatever the held.
(01:54):
The Roman numerals are so stupid Romans don't even use
them anymore anyway. The Super Bowl remains one of the
biggest sports betting days of the year, and sports betting
is now legal and over thirty states. How did this
evolve from an underground world of giving numbers to your
bookie and then your bookie line and seeing your team
didn't cover, to the mainstream industry at field world that
(02:18):
we know today. It was a slow process for sure,
especially compared to other jurisdictions around the world. You know,
sports betting was legal in the UK for a long time.
Bookmakers are respected profession over there, while over here, as
you said, you know, most of sports betting for the
longest of times was done in your bar rooms, your
your bowling alleys or with your country club bookmaker. Now
(02:40):
we got over thirty states that have legalized it, and
we're catching up quickly. In the next day decade, we're
gonna get big states like California, Texas, Florida. They're gonna
get in a game, and once they do, this is
gonna be home to one of the largest betting markets
in the world. Hundreds of billions of dollars are gonna
be bet annually. What was the biggest catalysts that god
us there kind of drove the acceptance. I believe it
(03:02):
was fantasy sports and the sports league's embrace of people
wagering on statistical performances. I think that kind of normalize
things and brought sports betting to where we are today
into the mainstream. Is there a sense of the convenience
of it as well? Constant do you remember when you
have you ever placed a bet on a sporting event.
I've definitely placed a bet, but you know, we would
(03:24):
my brothers. We would go to Las Vegas four March madness, right.
We would then sit in the sports book and my
brother would lose five betting first half u n c
on the under, and then he would bet a thousand
u n c second. You know, but that was like,
I guess that's old school betting, right, David, to actually
(03:45):
go to the casino and sit in the sports book.
I mean, now it's just right here. I don't I
don't do this. I'm afraid I think I'm a little
weary of how convenient they're making it and how hard
they're pushing it. Yeah, it's definitely changed from going up
to the counter and handing over cash over nine of
(04:06):
the bets of the money has wagered on your phone
these days, in the states that have legalized it, and
of course even in the states that aren't legal. Let's
not pretend that there is not an underground bookmaking industry
that's still thriving. You can go down to Costa Rica
and they are all kinds of sports books operating down there,
and it's not hard to find a bookmaker at any
kind of country club or bowling alley as we mentioned. Okay,
(04:29):
now when you say growing, David, let's let's put some
numbers to this. How many people are we expecting to
bet on the super Bowl this year? And I know
the Super Bowl already has all of these weird side
bets like who will be the first how will the
first point to be scored? But how many people are
we talking and how much money is changing hands on
(04:49):
average for a Super Bowl gambling as a gambling day.
So last year they estimated about thirty one million American
adults bet on the Super Bowl that combined to bet
about seven point six billion dollars. Some of those estimates
they came from the American Gaming Association, and the include
some informal polls like your super Bowl Squares and things
like that. But you know those numbers are going to
(05:10):
go up this year because we got new, heavilated, populated,
heavily populated states like Ohio, Massachusetts. They launched betting markets
in recent months. So you know, ten percent of the
adult population will almost certainly have a bet on the
super Bowl. But do you think, David, it's the same
people that we're betting illegally are now just doing it
legally on their phone or and I know what they
(05:32):
want is that new people betting for the first time.
I love that question and something that we have not
been able to define yet. Certainly the pool of betters
is growing, um, but the majority of them were probably betting,
you know, offshore. The estimates of how much was wagered
on the Super Bowl before legalization, we're almost in the
billions of dollars as well. So while we do think
(05:54):
we have a new pool of betters coming up, um,
there still is the majority of them. I would believe
this is not their first bet that they've ever placed.
They were betting long before. Now. This is a complicated
topic in a sense because you know the Daily Show,
we have this, we have this burden to a degree, David.
At least I think we can discuss problems that you
(06:17):
already knew about, or we can try to inform you
about stuff that you didn't even know might eventually be
a problem, Like here's the storm versus Hey, here's what's
happening just off the horizon. I feel like this is
one of those stories that was a horizon story, So
we have to figure out ways to make it make
sense for the viewers. And like spoofing is always a
simple way to do it. And so I know cost
(06:40):
you all spoof the movie Uncut Gems, which, if I'm
not mistaken, it was Adam Sandler with a very weird accent.
How did that segment come together? Well, if you haven't
seen Uncut Gems, it's wonderful, it's terrifying, it's anxiety. It's
a man constantly chase seeing his losses through gambling, and
(07:03):
it's funny and it's there's some great lines. So we
of course made the leap, as you do in comedy,
elevated it to what's next if we're legalizing so much
gambling or you get so deep in that now you're
betting on kids hop Scotch games and you're betting on
the person at the playground shooting free throws. I made
(07:24):
a crazy risk a game, but it's about to pay off.
I want to put forty g on a six way
part layer Today's game. Where how would you bet on that?
This is me? This is how I went. Of course,
it's a joke, but it's funny. As time has gone on,
(07:47):
that was all done before COVID, it is becoming more normalized.
Where does this end. You know in England, David, can't
you bet when your son is born that he can
he'll score a goal in the World Cup. It's sounds ridiculous,
but they take these bets they do. You can bet
on the weather over there. You can bet on whatever
you want. And you know, costume. You know, there's like
(08:11):
there's there's some bets on who the next host of
the daily shows? Oh snap, would there's like it's it's
unnecessary the type of stuff. Where does it that, David?
What else can you bet on? Well, you name it.
For the super Bowl, you're gonna be able to bet
from the pregame to the post game, you know, from
everything from how long the national anthem will go to
(08:32):
who the super Bowl m VP will will think first
in his postgame speech? So, uh, you know what the
biggest one, though, is, out of all the thousands of
prop bets that they have on the Super Bowl annually
every year, the one that attracts the most money simply
heads their tails on the corners. You're right, you know,
I guess My big question is, so what like it's
only a problem if you lose your house and family
(08:53):
and loved ones because of it. So maybe if we Americans,
the humans like a little wagers, is it problem? Is
it problematic? I guess for me the concern of it.
And this is coming from a man who gambled. I
remember one time, Um, because I can say the name
the casino is going now, so the lawyers don't have
to get all scared. Casino magic and Biloxi r I p.
(09:15):
Katrina swallowed her into the Gulf as it deserves to be.
But when I did comedy there at those casinos, they
would pay the comedians in a check so that you
wouldn't gamble your cash at the table. And I wonder
how much as we try to tell people gambling is fun,
we're not simultaneously talking to them about impulse control and
how this is a slippery slope. I think it the
(09:37):
best in those gambling commercials correct me from wrong, David.
But there's like really fine print at the bottom of
the screen, like, hey, have you got a problem with
you called Frank? Call gamble out but anyway and then duel.
It's like, uh, yeah, you're you're right, And you know
the National Council and Problem gamb will put some numbers
on this. They estimate around three to five percent of
(09:57):
people who gamble will develop some sort of gambling disorder.
UM case studies and other jurisdictions have expanded legal gambling,
they do receive a spike, and just like we have
just expanded legal sports betting, we're almost destined to see
a spike and increased problem gambling. Again, we're increasing the
pool right of the number of betters, so that percentage,
while it may stay stay same, we're gonna have more
(10:19):
problem gamblers. So we're probably in that initial stage right
now where we're probably going to start hearing about more
cases of a gambling addiction, and some of them are
really bad, conspiral, out of control. People can lose their
life savings. There's a high higher rate of suicide related
to gambling addiction too. So the good thing is the
same studies have shown that society usually adapts. We we
(10:42):
enter these new vices into the society, UM, they adjust
to them. They're impact upime, they put the proper protections
in and provide help for those who struggle to gamble responsibility,
so things kind of level off. That's the hope at least,
But it's gonna be about if we're talking about impulse
control and making sure that thing don't spiral out of control.
(11:04):
Why did professional sports leagues flip on their opinion of
sports of legalized sports betting, Because you know, when you
look at Pete Rose, who was a manager but never
bet on games that he was managing. And then you
look at I think the NBA ref what was his
name const was a donegye tim Okay. So he's throwing
games and blowing calls on purpose because he's got money
(11:27):
on the game. So you know, professional sports leagues long
opposed sports betting for that, and they didn't want to
corrupt the players. We don't need a franchise in Vegas
because it's gonna make our players crazy and they're gonna
gamble all the money. But then the Supreme Court reversed course,
and then all of the sports league was on board.
Come on down to the FanDuel dot Com backslash fantasy
(11:49):
football arena. Why did these leagues flip? And how do
you think the league's embracing sports betting changes the landscape
of the game and the fan experience. Well, the pivot.
These are billion dollar businesses, NFL, NBA, They like money, right,
And when the Supreme Court opened a path for all
these States to kind of let launch fighting markets. That
(12:12):
was two thousand eighteen. The league's really they knew they
didn't have much option other than to embrace it and
get on board to this money train. They had to
get on board make sure, they had to say, make
sure they had a seat at the table. Now, it
was definitely quite the whiplash pivot moment. I mean back
how it was about ten years ago, fifteen years ago
bud Sea League, the former mL A commissioner, he was
(12:34):
quoted as saying sports betting was evil, It's going to
destroy a sport. Well, you talked about the landscape. You
flash forward today you got retail sports books at multi
professional league stadiums, including at State Farmer Stadium in Glendale, Arizona,
which is the site of this year's Super Bowl. Is
there any positive coming or destined for some of the revenue,
(12:59):
you know, like, do they have to put some of
the revenue into youth sports programs? Do they have to
put it into gambling education? Please please tell me yes, yes, absolutely,
they are trying to dedicate you mentioned youth sports. Some
programs are getting that. A lot of it is going
to gambling addiction. I say a lot some of it
is going to gambling edition services. Certainly not enough, but
(13:20):
they are trying to dedicate this tax revenue. Unless it
is significant tax revenue, so they are trying to put
it towards worthy causes. Will it be enough to kind
of balance out the negatives that come from it, that's still,
you know, kind of left to re determined. I was
doing some googling because I know, I'm from the state
of Michigan and a lot of the lottery proceeds go
(13:40):
to education, And I said, oh, do all the others?
How many other states do that? First of all, like
forty states do that. Of course, that's how you get
funding for education in the United States. You have to
buy a lottery ticket. But I was hoping with the
gambling revenue that's gonna be new that we would at
least at least have some positive impact and not just
more money for the NFL. David, I'm sorry that my
(14:03):
league has hope and optimism about people doing the right
thing with money. That's the general that's not the general
way of the world. But after the break cost, I
want to talk to you a little bit about being
a college athlete, and I want to talk about the implications.
David of sports betting ezerbet lates to the college game
and the name and likeness stuff that's going on as well,
(14:25):
Like you have to Chicago Black Sox scandal in nineteen
nineteen with the White Sox through an entire World series?
Could you do that with a college football playoff? How
corruptible are the kids? Let's talk about this after the break.
This is beyond the scenes. Let me check my Super
Bowl fan Doel really quick. I'll be right back beyond
(14:48):
the scenes. We are back. We are talking about professional
leagues and sports gambling, but what about college athletics? And
you know people bet on college game? Coster, you just
said a second ago you and your brother went to
Vegas to bet on the college game? Does sports betting?
(15:08):
How does this affect student athletes in their mental health?
And how potentially corruptible is the college game based on
all of the money that's moving around like college? Like
like cost you played tennis in college? Anybody? How did
somebody just coming to you, Hey, make sure in this
next set you go thirty and then come back and
(15:28):
double duke. I got money on this set to go
douce get job using tennis terms. Thanks thanks to thanks
thanks to college tennis being a non revenue producing sport.
I was, I was, I was shielded from a lot
of that. But um, this is always and David can
(15:50):
definitely speak to this, but this has always been a
very corruptible group. Millions are being made off of them.
I don't know the numbers for what see Yes paid
for the TV broadcast rights for March Madness, but it's
a b it's a billions, it's billions. So you're making
millions and billions off of these athletes who are not
(16:10):
getting paid. So this is this is an enormous opportunity
for corruption. David, what do you think? Is am? I right?
It is? Uh, you nailed it all. And these guys
are vulnerable. Even though the athletes are getting name, image
and likeness deals now, it's not for a lot of them.
And some of them are not making a lot of money.
And if a kid can't scrounge up a hundred bucks
(16:31):
to take someone out on a date, uh, And they
may think that missing a couple of free throws or
turning the ball over isn't that big a deal if
somebody's going to give them five hundred dollars or whatever.
But I guess the key thing that I would want
to make that these issues existed before legalization. Right. We
had points paving scandals almost one every five years starting
in the nineteen nineties, and since we started expanding legal betting,
(16:54):
we haven't had one in college sports, at least that
not one that's been exposed yet. It does kind of
feel inevitable that we will have another, But I don't
think we should necessarily blame that on legalization. In fact,
I think with the many more eyes that are watching it,
and people are really kind of looking for anything that's
nefarious going on, watching the point breads as a money
(17:15):
coming on a weird game that we didn't think should
be there, You're more likely to get caught if you're
trying to pull something of big scale now that everybody
has more visibility into the betting market. I can also say,
as a former collegiate athlete that you spent fifteen years
now say sixteen years for this moment. Your parents refinanced
(17:39):
their house to send you to basketball tennis camp, whatever,
your coach rides you all day about your jump shot,
You're naturally already have a lot of pressure on you. Uh,
if you're anonymous Twitter handle is lost four hundred bucks
because of you know you kind of don't give a ship.
In my opinion, there is enough pressure already on the
(18:02):
shoulders that come from within and come from family and others.
So I would think they would be you know, and
I'm just talking to I would think they maybe wouldn't
be as influenced as much as we believe by a
stranger's bet. I think what I what I think also, Kosta,
is that what we also have to account for to
some degree is how social media and how like if
(18:27):
you've been to a sports book, you know the range
of emotions that happened on that last play and the
highs and the lows and the screens and the cheering,
and people take that straight to social media. And if
Super Bowl is are perfect example the Bengals, some would
argue the Bengals are not in the Super Bowl because
(18:47):
Joseph Aside I think it's the brother's name, made a
dumb play at the end of the game against Patrick
Mahomes and the Chiefs got it. He's a shorter field
goal to go to the Super Bowl. He sat on
the bench. The entirety of the confettis celebration with the
weight of the world on his shoulders. And that's a
grown man. So imagine being an eighteen year old that
fumbles at the goal line in the Big Trophy game.
(19:09):
And now you open up your social media too, thousands
of Rabbit gamblers who were blaming you specifically for that
loss on some mental health ship. David like, where does this?
How does the school then work to try to protect
the players from that type of verbal abuse and attacks.
It's bad enough for you're dealing with a Rabbit fan base,
but a Rabbit fan base who also lost money. I
(19:31):
don't know if that should be part of the regular
weight that a college athlete should have to took cost
this point of all the other weight that you're carrying,
now you're carrying verbal abuse from strangers. It's disgusting, it
really is. It's one of the things that really drives
me crazy. And we're actually doing some reporting on that
right now. And there is a company called sport Radar.
It's a big tech company that analyzes a lot of data,
(19:53):
and they have actually dedicated a whole department to identifying
abusive behavior on social media towards athletes. So that's one
way they are trying to combat it, but it's very,
very difficult. And I'll tell you a quick little story.
There was a kid that they called parlay Pats, and
he was known for making these big parlay bets, right,
and he was winning every once in a while, and
(20:14):
he was really kind of getting some media publicity. You
never well, sooner or later, uh FBI got ahold of him,
and it turns out he was sending uh just awful,
the worst profane direct messages to athletes. I mean we're
talking about like we're gonna slit your wife's throat with
a dull blade and your children and all these terrible things.
(20:36):
And his idea was, I'm going to send these to
these athletes and get them worried about me, and then
I'm gonna bet against them, and so it can get
really really ugly. He was eventually convicted and put on
probation for a long time. But there are some really
really dangerous to these and it does scare me. And
yet it's fun to bet on two teams that I
(21:00):
don't know care. On a Tuesday night, I'm on the road,
roy I just bombed at a casino and Lacrosse, Wisconsin,
let me go bet a couple of bucks on the
double a baseball team, and now I have something to
do tonight. It does give everything steaks. It gives everything steaks. Yeah,
there's just there's something with regards to the dopamine of
(21:23):
it as well that I think where it becomes kind
of an addiction thing. Like I used to play online
poker back when that before the Fitch shut that down,
I was up like four hundred bucks when to this
day I haven't got my four hundred dollars back from
Poker Stars. But like that was fun and exciting to do.
But on the money side of it, David, if it's
(21:43):
so lucrative, and you know, the lottery's already getting education
conference stuff pretty good for a lot of states, why
isn't every state on board with the legalized sports betting?
Like like you look at California, right, California had a
measure on the ballot and they were like, nah, we're fine,
we don't need to legalize that. Even Florida said no,
(22:04):
which I was very you know, it was very intrigued
by that, Like what do states have to gain or
lose from legalizing sports betting? The fact that Florida said
note to anything on a ballot. It's just shocking. Yeah,
politics are in play and all these big states, but
it does feel almost inevitable eventually those three states, it
was big states, Texas, Florida, California. They're gonna get it done.
(22:26):
Texas remains one of the few states without casino gambling,
so there's some resistance to all gambling from the conservative
nature of that state. That's resistance is slowly eroding. And
the sports leagues and their sports owners over there, Mark Cuban,
Jerry Jones are kind of pushed in that envelope. Florida
and California each have these complex compacts with Native American tribes.
They control the gambling in those states. It gets a
(22:49):
little real tricky to get it done. Florida is closer
to getting it done than California at this point. Uh,
but my belief eventually, probably were next five to seven years,
all those will get done, if not sooner. And what
they gain is that revenue. What they lose is any
of the backlash and any of the issues that we've covered.
So we got to make sure that revenue is worth
(23:09):
taking on the backlash and the issues that come about
with it. Roy Roy, do you ever bet on high
Lie in Miami. No, but I've gone to it. I
don't bet on ship. I don't understand. I mean that
ship is rigged for sure. But my dad used to
take us and we would throw down two bucks on
some guy and watch him play catch with a basket
tied to his hand, and we go, what the ship
is going on? But it was no clue what it is.
(23:32):
And like if I don't understand the mechanics of it,
you know, but the stuff I do understand, I get
way too granular on, which is just That's part of
why I just like, I'll buy when the power ball
gets up to a billion, then I'll do that. And
if I'm out with buddies in Vegas, I'll do a
little bit of black jack um. But you know, outside
(23:52):
of that, most of the gambling that I've done on
a regular basis is long term stuff. I got a
hundred bucks buying fantasy football pot that I buy into
every year with some buddies from college, and then I
might do like the I don't know what it's called, David,
but at the beginning of the baseball season, I will
bet on which team will lose one hundred games and
I'll put bucks. Yeah, the futures, I'll put a hundred
(24:15):
bucks on the Cincinnati Reds to suck. And then all
of a sudden they go on a surge in June
and you just know they're not gonna lose a hundred
They're gonna lose ninety three. Okay, well, I'm done watching
baseball all year. How partisan is this issue, David, You know,
in the sense of from the lobby and standpoint, from
the casinos, from the sports books angle. You know, is
(24:37):
this an issue that is dividing Democrats and Republicans or
they just both in the same place of going, Hey,
the money's got to be right. Yeah, the money's got
to be right money. There's not really ever partisan, and
everybody knows they can get it. They just got to
figure out the best ways they can. And you get
the conservative pushback every once in a while. There are
against the moralists that think gambling is against their morals
(25:00):
and it shouldn't be brought upon in an illegal setting.
The argument against that, of course, is if we bring
it into a legal setting, we're allowed to put in
these protections and hopefully kind of try to identify any
of the issues that we may have, whether that be
an addiction or a game fixing scandal. Whereas your local
bookie down at the at the barroom, he's certainly not
going to say, hey, I think you may be betting
(25:22):
too much, and he's gonna say, hey, if you want
to bet on this next game. So there are positive
pros and cons for both. Um for his partisan of it,
it's not much people they see the money, they want
to get their part. For someone dealing with gambling addiction,
it's it's hard to escape because there are constant commercials
(25:42):
and ads and promos, and it's ricks free. The first
bet is free, will match your first two hundred dollars
when you put your money in the account. Is enough
being done to regulate and enforce responsible gaming? And you know, David,
how we compare to other countries, Like what are some
(26:03):
of the changes that they've made in Europe with regards
to gambling to try to curtail addiction. Yeah, it's gonna
be tough for anybody to avoid. Uh. Seeing these commercials
are the advertisements that ever they used to be up
on the on the main buses that were traveling through
the Northeast. You would see big ads for FanDuel and
so forth. So it's gonna be very difficult until we
(26:23):
do get some sort of pullback on the advertising, and
I do believe that is coming. In the UK, they've
already started that kind of read looking at how should
we keep advertising away from sports and they are going
to do what they call a whistle to whistle band
where you will not allow to be allowed to air
sports bending commercials throughout a match, and as the match
(26:45):
starts through the end of it, you will not be
able to to to air any kind of sports bending commercials. Now,
some of the soccer players still have ads for sports
books on their jerseys and you see them around the
runners board. So uh, there's a lot of things that
are going to have to change. Is gonna make it
very difficult for anybody that is struggling with sports betting
(27:06):
or with gambling addiction overall to avoid them. Wait till line,
how MESSI gets like a fan duel dot com tattoo on.
It's coming the way they putting ads on all the jerseys.
But then you have you have companies like DraftKings though
where like they'll advise you on how much money, like
you can set how much you're gonna put into your
(27:26):
account every week or how much you can wage uring
you know, they've also donated to the International Center for
Responsible Gaming, Like they collaborate with all of these different
associations and groups and things like that. But is that
placation Like if you look at the NFL, right, the
NFL through six million at the National Council on Problem Gambling,
(27:48):
that's like one I don't want to call it alcoholics anonymous,
but they're like a group that is focused on helping
people get past those addictions. Can you, in earnest be
a part of the problem and the solution or is
the problem not your fault? Because there's always going to
be people that over indulge. I think that the ladder there,
(28:09):
there's always going to be again that that three to
five percent of people that gamble will develop some sort
of gambling disorder or gamble type problems. Um. We can
only try to help them as much as we can. UM.
And I you know, I applied the NFL for giving
the National Council and Problem Coming all that money that
that that doubled their their national budget. You know that
(28:30):
that this is these are were not well funded companies,
These ones that try to help with gamble addictions, so
any kind of money we can get them. And again
I think that's Michael mentioned that, you know, I think
that's a good thing from legalization comes out because we
are trying to help them. We are trying to throw
some of the money. While as the corner bookmaker who
was offering credit to the local college kid and all
(28:52):
of a sudden he burns through his five dollars of
credit and he doesn't have that money. Well, that local
bookmaker isn't saying, oh hey, you know, let me help
you out that they are trying to continue to take
that money. So I think there are pros and cons
from it, and I do think that if we look
at it, look at all over, there's a little bit
more positivity to to legalization of sports betting than it
(29:14):
were to keep it in an underground. David, you said
it's three to five will develop a problem, But I'm
willing to bet two hundred bucks with you that. It's
more like you will take that. Yeah, I'll take that.
I'll take the under on. That's the deal. What country
was you talking about in the first break when you
say you can gamble on middle school? Which kids? She
(29:36):
was gonna come untied. Yeah in England, England and the
weather you can bet on the weather over there. And
I don't think we'll ever reach a point where we
can say that we've got a problem gambling under control.
There's always going to be people that struggle with it.
I think the key is trying to identify it quickly, because,
like we talked about inspiral out of control. Quickly you think, uh,
(29:57):
you know you're gonna only be down a thousand, you'll
be able to pay that off. All of a sudden,
you're down two thousand and you don't got the money
and you gotta pay, and now you get nervous and
then you make bad decisions to try to get that money. So, uh,
it's gonna be an internal challenge for all the stakeholders.
That's why I stopped fooling around with fan Duel and like,
like I took all that ship off my phone, bro,
(30:19):
like all of the mobile betting stuff, Draft Kings, the
Draft King commercials. First off, I feel like a red
bull at I feel like ad for like a motorcyclist.
Draft Kings come on down and go on your favorite
football play. How much more does that type of stuff
make people vulnerable to gambling addiction. That that's I've thought
(30:41):
a lot about this, and I believe I'm in the
camp of people were doing this. Anyways, I'm happy we're
legalizing and maybe getting some revenue. But what I hate
is when my three year old daughter eyes are drawn
to Jamie Fox pushing a gambling at like that. It's
(31:02):
almost like the cigarette companies with the cartoons on the
boxes at this point. Yeah, they're pushing them too hard,
Like we're adults. Adults should be able to partake in
their vices, in my opinion, and gambling is one of
those vices. But it seems too aggressive now and I'm
I want them to slow it down. Please. There's definitely
(31:23):
something to that, you know, because like even with some
of the apps that my son uses, some of the
incentives and this is this is an educational app to
teach you learning, but some of the incentives, Oh, if
you answer this question, you get this many coins, and
then you can double the coins if you answer one
more question. It's like some prices, right deal or no deal?
(31:45):
Ship all in the effort to get a better hat
for your avatar so he can continue on the journey
through the learning environment or whatever. But this idea that
the apps, like David, how does that affect you know,
mental health? Like do the apps helped to introduce more
young people into gambling because we're talking about fifteen year
olds where what's the checking balances? Are you eighteen? Do
(32:08):
you promise you're a team? All? Right? Click here right?
Or hand your your mom hands with the phone whatever?
But gamble, you know, the gamblification they call it a
video games and any time of those things are worrisome.
It's a big issue over overseas right now. Those loot
boxes that they call them, where you're playing a CS
GO or whatever video game you're playing, and if you
(32:31):
get this lootbox that can kind of parlay your your
skin of your gun, you get a stronger gun, and
you know, people start selling these things on the black market.
And there's been lots of discussion on that. So, uh
it's something we're gonna have to pay attention closely to
the number of commercials. NFL decided they were only gonna
do six sports book, sports book or sports betting commercials
(32:51):
per per game. Uh is even seemed like a lot
because we went from zero to six. Um, so I
do eventually think we're gonna get some pushback, some regulator
are gonna say, Okay, we've gone a little too far.
And to that point, David, after the break, I want
to talk a little bit more about what the future
of sports betting looks like. Will they put micro chips
in our heads? Will I just think to myself, Jalen
(33:12):
hurts over three hundred yards less than two interceptions, and
then think it's just automatically taken from my checking account
of something. Well, we'll see what the future sports betting
looks like. This is beyond the scenes. We'll be right
back beyond the scenes. We are around in third and
headed for home. Wonderful conversation here about sports gambling and
(33:33):
things of that nature. Um, real quick, let me check
my fan, doel real quick, what's going and check the fan? Okay,
it's looking good. I think I got my line up. Said,
there we go, David. How far away are we from
middle school soccer gambling? Respect a long ways? We're not
gonna get there. They are betting on high school sports,
but most of those are done in those illegal sports
(33:54):
books in the offshore world. But we're not gonna get
to medal school. And you want to see high school
betting up in the legal mark it. But but I
could see roy every you know, everything's going subscription model.
I could see where you could bet a season's worth
of bets, you know, I could see where they go. Okay, Costa,
you keep betting the Lions. Let's just automatically set your
(34:17):
bet every Sunday and you can go in and log
in and remember your password and cancel it if you want.
But we're just gonna place that for you automatically. I
can see that coming. They might already exist. I guess
I'm half kidding about middle school soccer. I really do
think eventually coming at But when we talk about the
future of sports betting and what it looks like in
the United States, is this something that will eventually extend
(34:38):
beyond sports? You know, we have the this is Awards
season for all the shows? How much more hardcore are
we gonna get into that? Like? Because I know people
bet on the winners, but at what point do we
just start gambling on the nominees. Well, you do have
betting on the oscars. It's a it's a pretty big market.
There will be more over millions of dollars. Is a
(35:00):
bet on the Academy Awards. You're going to eventually probably
see betting on elections. They do that in the UK,
where the U S presidential election is one of their
biggest political markets there is. If it was over here,
a lot of bookmakers think of betting on the presidency
would be the largest betting market we we offer over here.
So there will be some evolution of this and continue
(35:21):
to grow. Um hopefully we'll be smart about it and
not get into middle school soccer. What challenges lie here
for the sports betting providers other than getting all of
these politicians on board by bribing him under the temple,
I think you're eventually gonna see some pushback from regulators
on advertising. Like what you said, It seems like it
will also be inevitable that we're going to have another
(35:42):
gambling scandal like you know we repeatedly had throughout the
history of sports, even before legalization. There's a lot of money.
Whenever there's something with a lot of money involved, the
various actors come to play, and I really do think
there's gonna be some awful stories of people who lose
everything to gambling addiction. So the future, it's a little
sounds a little scary. Um, But I think that as
(36:03):
a society, UM, we are adults and we should be
allowed to use our vices responsibly. We just have to
make sure and try to do that right. We We
cannot uh let things get spiral out of control, whether
for individuals or as a society a whole when it
comes to gambling. This is what I would do if
(36:24):
I was a college kid and I needed to make
some money and I was open to being scandalized. I
wouldn't take the bet to lose the game, right, that's
too big. People might notice that. But you you you
take the money to not have as many assists, or
in the first half you don't play gray and it's
a first half bet, I feel like the scandal might
(36:47):
be as not they lost the game or he missed
the free throw with no time left. It's always these
little like first quarter bets are like, you know, that's
that's where you could really make some money. I'm not
not advising them to do that, but I am. Let's
go down this road. I like this, How would I
be corruptible if I was still in the game, Like,
(37:09):
if you know your quarterback is gonna get sucked twice
and I'm an old lineman that I'm gonna bet that
he's gonna get sacked three times because on one or
those plays, I'm gonna let the d lineman go pass.
And now that's three sex and it's only one play
out of the greater what seventy year eighty offensive snaps? Again?
So did I throw the game? Or did I just
pay for a couple of extra textbooks? How much money
are you trying to make off that I'm trying to
(37:31):
retire day you're trying to retire, You're not going to
be able to retire on betting on sacks. The way
the books combat that is they put limits on it,
so you may be able to get it, you know,
a few thousand dollars down at one book, maybe five
hundred or another book, but you're not gonna make retiring
money on there. The big markets are that the two
win the game, I didn't know the game, the point spread, right,
(37:52):
those are the ones that have the biggest limits. So
if you're gonna try to retire off some sort of
match fixing scheme, and you know it is a federal
crime and you would serve time if you were caught, Uh,
you're going to have to play uh to to you know,
win the game or cover the spread, and you're gonna
have to be able to disguise your money, right. You
can't put all this money, millions of dollars on some random,
(38:16):
low level college basketball, and then where do you deposit
that without having to report it? Now, you gotta have
the money in the backyard like Denzel Washington and American Gangster,
and then the rats start eating your money like the
drug dealer and bad boys too, because you've got so
much cash you can't wash it. I mean, we're back,
We're back to uncut gems. So last question then, for
(38:38):
both of you all, what are your predictions for the
Super Bowl? Who you're betting on? Do you bet? David?
We never even asked you that I am the worst
better there ever is? I My Twitter profile says I
write about gambling, but I am not good at gambling,
and it's true. So with that said, I'm gonna take
heads on the coin toss. Okay, I'm not an enormous
(38:59):
football fan, but I'm an America fan, and I love
how we make it a spectacle. I love nobody entertains
like Americans, so I usually get in on those like
commercial bets. Who's the first beer ad? I like the
bets about the commercials or how many derrito ads are
they're gonna be? And uh, as far as the game goes,
(39:20):
I'm staying off. I'm staying away from that well until
you're right now, friends, I got some hot That's the
other thing we didn't even get to talk about was
this gambling experts. Guys. Just hey, guys, hot tip eagles
over my homes. Just found out Patty Mahomes didn't have
his traditional smoothie that he has pre game. You gotta
(39:40):
take the over on these guys, man, They're just looking
good traditionally in games under fifty degrees in the Western
time zone. I just think you can't stop Jalen Hurts
and it like they get so granular on the stats.
I'm like you were on cocaine and I do not
trust you in the least. I wish we had more
time to talk about this, but this is extremely, extremely fast. Nati,
(40:00):
David Michael, thank you for going beyond the scenes with me.
Much love my fan do it onm okay, listen to
the Daily Show Beyond the Scenes on Apple podcast, the
I Heart Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts
m
Welcome to Beyond the Scenes, the podcast that goes a
little deeper into segments and topics that originally aired on
The Daily Show. This is what you gotta think of
this podcast, Like, this podcast is like when you go
to a Super Bowl party and you're there to root
for your team, but you're also there for the commercials,
to have time, show the chicken wings and endless pictures
of beer, and to bet how soon your friend Gabridge's
(00:28):
gonna pass out from autemn tequila shots. Wake up, Gary
stopped being a bit. It was just fourteen shots. That's
what this podcast is. I'm Roy Wood Jr. And today
we're talking about this weekend Super Bowl and the legalization
of sports betting roll mc clip. Since the Supreme Court
cleared the way for sports betting in the States, other
(00:50):
than in Nevada, a growing number of states have legalized
sports gambling. Sports betting revenue expected to go from two
point five billion dollars this year to nearly nineteen billion
into The n c a A and professional sports leads
had long opposed sports betting, saying it could hurt the
integrity of the game, but as soon as the Supreme
Court freed stage to legalize sports betting last May. The
(01:12):
pro leagues immediately reversed course. Within months of the ruling,
the NBA, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League
all made deals with MGM in the NFL partnered up
with Caesar's Palace. Today I'm joined by Daily Show correspondent
Michael Costa. Costa is always good to have you on.
How you doing, brother, Thanks for having me, appreciate it.
(01:32):
Good to see you. And we are also joined by
gambling industry reporter for ESPN, David Purdam. David, how are
you doing. I'm great man, Thanks for having me on. Now, David,
let's talk about the Super Bowl. You know, um super
Bowl vv x l x I i'd whatever the held.
(01:54):
The Roman numerals are so stupid Romans don't even use
them anymore anyway. The Super Bowl remains one of the
biggest sports betting days of the year, and sports betting
is now legal and over thirty states. How did this
evolve from an underground world of giving numbers to your
bookie and then your bookie line and seeing your team
didn't cover, to the mainstream industry at field world that
(02:18):
we know today. It was a slow process for sure,
especially compared to other jurisdictions around the world. You know,
sports betting was legal in the UK for a long time.
Bookmakers are respected profession over there, while over here, as
you said, you know, most of sports betting for the
longest of times was done in your bar rooms, your
your bowling alleys or with your country club bookmaker. Now
(02:40):
we got over thirty states that have legalized it, and
we're catching up quickly. In the next day decade, we're
gonna get big states like California, Texas, Florida. They're gonna
get in a game, and once they do, this is
gonna be home to one of the largest betting markets
in the world. Hundreds of billions of dollars are gonna
be bet annually. What was the biggest catalysts that god
us there kind of drove the acceptance. I believe it
(03:02):
was fantasy sports and the sports league's embrace of people
wagering on statistical performances. I think that kind of normalize
things and brought sports betting to where we are today
into the mainstream. Is there a sense of the convenience
of it as well? Constant do you remember when you
have you ever placed a bet on a sporting event.
I've definitely placed a bet, but you know, we would
(03:24):
my brothers. We would go to Las Vegas four March madness, right.
We would then sit in the sports book and my
brother would lose five betting first half u n c
on the under, and then he would bet a thousand
u n c second. You know, but that was like,
I guess that's old school betting, right, David, to actually
(03:45):
go to the casino and sit in the sports book.
I mean, now it's just right here. I don't I
don't do this. I'm afraid I think I'm a little
weary of how convenient they're making it and how hard
they're pushing it. Yeah, it's definitely changed from going up
to the counter and handing over cash over nine of
(04:06):
the bets of the money has wagered on your phone
these days, in the states that have legalized it, and
of course even in the states that aren't legal. Let's
not pretend that there is not an underground bookmaking industry
that's still thriving. You can go down to Costa Rica
and they are all kinds of sports books operating down there,
and it's not hard to find a bookmaker at any
kind of country club or bowling alley as we mentioned. Okay,
(04:29):
now when you say growing, David, let's let's put some
numbers to this. How many people are we expecting to
bet on the super Bowl this year? And I know
the Super Bowl already has all of these weird side
bets like who will be the first how will the
first point to be scored? But how many people are
we talking and how much money is changing hands on
(04:49):
average for a Super Bowl gambling as a gambling day.
So last year they estimated about thirty one million American
adults bet on the Super Bowl that combined to bet
about seven point six billion dollars. Some of those estimates
they came from the American Gaming Association, and the include
some informal polls like your super Bowl Squares and things
like that. But you know those numbers are going to
(05:10):
go up this year because we got new, heavilated, populated,
heavily populated states like Ohio, Massachusetts. They launched betting markets
in recent months. So you know, ten percent of the
adult population will almost certainly have a bet on the
super Bowl. But do you think, David, it's the same
people that we're betting illegally are now just doing it
legally on their phone or and I know what they
(05:32):
want is that new people betting for the first time.
I love that question and something that we have not
been able to define yet. Certainly the pool of betters
is growing, um, but the majority of them were probably betting,
you know, offshore. The estimates of how much was wagered
on the Super Bowl before legalization, we're almost in the
billions of dollars as well. So while we do think
(05:54):
we have a new pool of betters coming up, um,
there still is the majority of them. I would believe
this is not their first bet that they've ever placed.
They were betting long before. Now. This is a complicated
topic in a sense because you know the Daily Show,
we have this, we have this burden to a degree, David.
At least I think we can discuss problems that you
(06:17):
already knew about, or we can try to inform you
about stuff that you didn't even know might eventually be
a problem, Like here's the storm versus Hey, here's what's
happening just off the horizon. I feel like this is
one of those stories that was a horizon story, So
we have to figure out ways to make it make
sense for the viewers. And like spoofing is always a
simple way to do it. And so I know cost
(06:40):
you all spoof the movie Uncut Gems, which, if I'm
not mistaken, it was Adam Sandler with a very weird accent.
How did that segment come together? Well, if you haven't
seen Uncut Gems, it's wonderful, it's terrifying, it's anxiety. It's
a man constantly chase seeing his losses through gambling, and
(07:03):
it's funny and it's there's some great lines. So we
of course made the leap, as you do in comedy,
elevated it to what's next if we're legalizing so much
gambling or you get so deep in that now you're
betting on kids hop Scotch games and you're betting on
the person at the playground shooting free throws. I made
(07:24):
a crazy risk a game, but it's about to pay off.
I want to put forty g on a six way
part layer Today's game. Where how would you bet on that?
This is me? This is how I went. Of course,
it's a joke, but it's funny. As time has gone on,
(07:47):
that was all done before COVID, it is becoming more normalized.
Where does this end. You know in England, David, can't
you bet when your son is born that he can
he'll score a goal in the World Cup. It's sounds ridiculous,
but they take these bets they do. You can bet
on the weather over there. You can bet on whatever
you want. And you know, costume. You know, there's like
(08:11):
there's there's some bets on who the next host of
the daily shows? Oh snap, would there's like it's it's
unnecessary the type of stuff. Where does it that, David?
What else can you bet on? Well, you name it.
For the super Bowl, you're gonna be able to bet
from the pregame to the post game, you know, from
everything from how long the national anthem will go to
(08:32):
who the super Bowl m VP will will think first
in his postgame speech? So, uh, you know what the
biggest one, though, is, out of all the thousands of
prop bets that they have on the Super Bowl annually
every year, the one that attracts the most money simply
heads their tails on the corners. You're right, you know,
I guess My big question is, so what like it's
only a problem if you lose your house and family
(08:53):
and loved ones because of it. So maybe if we Americans,
the humans like a little wagers, is it problem? Is
it problematic? I guess for me the concern of it.
And this is coming from a man who gambled. I
remember one time, Um, because I can say the name
the casino is going now, so the lawyers don't have
to get all scared. Casino magic and Biloxi r I p.
(09:15):
Katrina swallowed her into the Gulf as it deserves to be.
But when I did comedy there at those casinos, they
would pay the comedians in a check so that you
wouldn't gamble your cash at the table. And I wonder
how much as we try to tell people gambling is fun,
we're not simultaneously talking to them about impulse control and
how this is a slippery slope. I think it the
(09:37):
best in those gambling commercials correct me from wrong, David.
But there's like really fine print at the bottom of
the screen, like, hey, have you got a problem with
you called Frank? Call gamble out but anyway and then duel.
It's like, uh, yeah, you're you're right, And you know
the National Council and Problem gamb will put some numbers
on this. They estimate around three to five percent of
(09:57):
people who gamble will develop some sort of gambling disorder.
UM case studies and other jurisdictions have expanded legal gambling,
they do receive a spike, and just like we have
just expanded legal sports betting, we're almost destined to see
a spike and increased problem gambling. Again, we're increasing the
pool right of the number of betters, so that percentage,
while it may stay stay same, we're gonna have more
(10:19):
problem gamblers. So we're probably in that initial stage right
now where we're probably going to start hearing about more
cases of a gambling addiction, and some of them are
really bad, conspiral, out of control. People can lose their
life savings. There's a high higher rate of suicide related
to gambling addiction too. So the good thing is the
same studies have shown that society usually adapts. We we
(10:42):
enter these new vices into the society, UM, they adjust
to them. They're impact upime, they put the proper protections
in and provide help for those who struggle to gamble responsibility,
so things kind of level off. That's the hope at least,
But it's gonna be about if we're talking about impulse
control and making sure that thing don't spiral out of control.
(11:04):
Why did professional sports leagues flip on their opinion of
sports of legalized sports betting, Because you know, when you
look at Pete Rose, who was a manager but never
bet on games that he was managing. And then you
look at I think the NBA ref what was his
name const was a donegye tim Okay. So he's throwing
games and blowing calls on purpose because he's got money
(11:27):
on the game. So you know, professional sports leagues long
opposed sports betting for that, and they didn't want to
corrupt the players. We don't need a franchise in Vegas
because it's gonna make our players crazy and they're gonna
gamble all the money. But then the Supreme Court reversed course,
and then all of the sports league was on board.
Come on down to the FanDuel dot Com backslash fantasy
(11:49):
football arena. Why did these leagues flip? And how do
you think the league's embracing sports betting changes the landscape
of the game and the fan experience. Well, the pivot.
These are billion dollar businesses, NFL, NBA, They like money, right,
And when the Supreme Court opened a path for all
these States to kind of let launch fighting markets. That
(12:12):
was two thousand eighteen. The league's really they knew they
didn't have much option other than to embrace it and
get on board to this money train. They had to
get on board make sure, they had to say, make
sure they had a seat at the table. Now, it
was definitely quite the whiplash pivot moment. I mean back
how it was about ten years ago, fifteen years ago
bud Sea League, the former mL A commissioner, he was
(12:34):
quoted as saying sports betting was evil, It's going to
destroy a sport. Well, you talked about the landscape. You
flash forward today you got retail sports books at multi
professional league stadiums, including at State Farmer Stadium in Glendale, Arizona,
which is the site of this year's Super Bowl. Is
there any positive coming or destined for some of the revenue,
(12:59):
you know, like, do they have to put some of
the revenue into youth sports programs? Do they have to
put it into gambling education? Please please tell me yes, yes, absolutely,
they are trying to dedicate you mentioned youth sports. Some
programs are getting that. A lot of it is going
to gambling addiction. I say a lot some of it
is going to gambling edition services. Certainly not enough, but
(13:20):
they are trying to dedicate this tax revenue. Unless it
is significant tax revenue, so they are trying to put
it towards worthy causes. Will it be enough to kind
of balance out the negatives that come from it, that's still,
you know, kind of left to re determined. I was
doing some googling because I know, I'm from the state
of Michigan and a lot of the lottery proceeds go
(13:40):
to education, And I said, oh, do all the others?
How many other states do that? First of all, like
forty states do that. Of course, that's how you get
funding for education in the United States. You have to
buy a lottery ticket. But I was hoping with the
gambling revenue that's gonna be new that we would at
least at least have some positive impact and not just
more money for the NFL. David, I'm sorry that my
(14:03):
league has hope and optimism about people doing the right
thing with money. That's the general that's not the general
way of the world. But after the break cost, I
want to talk to you a little bit about being
a college athlete, and I want to talk about the implications.
David of sports betting ezerbet lates to the college game
and the name and likeness stuff that's going on as well,
(14:25):
Like you have to Chicago Black Sox scandal in nineteen
nineteen with the White Sox through an entire World series?
Could you do that with a college football playoff? How
corruptible are the kids? Let's talk about this after the break.
This is beyond the scenes. Let me check my Super
Bowl fan Doel really quick. I'll be right back beyond
(14:48):
the scenes. We are back. We are talking about professional
leagues and sports gambling, but what about college athletics? And
you know people bet on college game? Coster, you just
said a second ago you and your brother went to
Vegas to bet on the college game? Does sports betting?
(15:08):
How does this affect student athletes in their mental health?
And how potentially corruptible is the college game based on
all of the money that's moving around like college? Like
like cost you played tennis in college? Anybody? How did
somebody just coming to you, Hey, make sure in this
next set you go thirty and then come back and
(15:28):
double duke. I got money on this set to go
douce get job using tennis terms. Thanks thanks to thanks
thanks to college tennis being a non revenue producing sport.
I was, I was, I was shielded from a lot
of that. But um, this is always and David can
(15:50):
definitely speak to this, but this has always been a
very corruptible group. Millions are being made off of them.
I don't know the numbers for what see Yes paid
for the TV broadcast rights for March Madness, but it's
a b it's a billions, it's billions. So you're making
millions and billions off of these athletes who are not
(16:10):
getting paid. So this is this is an enormous opportunity
for corruption. David, what do you think? Is am? I right?
It is? Uh, you nailed it all. And these guys
are vulnerable. Even though the athletes are getting name, image
and likeness deals now, it's not for a lot of them.
And some of them are not making a lot of money.
And if a kid can't scrounge up a hundred bucks
(16:31):
to take someone out on a date, uh, And they
may think that missing a couple of free throws or
turning the ball over isn't that big a deal if
somebody's going to give them five hundred dollars or whatever.
But I guess the key thing that I would want
to make that these issues existed before legalization. Right. We
had points paving scandals almost one every five years starting
in the nineteen nineties, and since we started expanding legal betting,
(16:54):
we haven't had one in college sports, at least that
not one that's been exposed yet. It does kind of
feel inevitable that we will have another, But I don't
think we should necessarily blame that on legalization. In fact,
I think with the many more eyes that are watching it,
and people are really kind of looking for anything that's
nefarious going on, watching the point breads as a money
(17:15):
coming on a weird game that we didn't think should
be there, You're more likely to get caught if you're
trying to pull something of big scale now that everybody
has more visibility into the betting market. I can also say,
as a former collegiate athlete that you spent fifteen years
now say sixteen years for this moment. Your parents refinanced
(17:39):
their house to send you to basketball tennis camp, whatever,
your coach rides you all day about your jump shot,
You're naturally already have a lot of pressure on you. Uh,
if you're anonymous Twitter handle is lost four hundred bucks
because of you know you kind of don't give a ship.
In my opinion, there is enough pressure already on the
(18:02):
shoulders that come from within and come from family and others.
So I would think they would be you know, and
I'm just talking to I would think they maybe wouldn't
be as influenced as much as we believe by a
stranger's bet. I think what I what I think also, Kosta,
is that what we also have to account for to
some degree is how social media and how like if
(18:27):
you've been to a sports book, you know the range
of emotions that happened on that last play and the
highs and the lows and the screens and the cheering,
and people take that straight to social media. And if
Super Bowl is are perfect example the Bengals, some would
argue the Bengals are not in the Super Bowl because
(18:47):
Joseph Aside I think it's the brother's name, made a
dumb play at the end of the game against Patrick
Mahomes and the Chiefs got it. He's a shorter field
goal to go to the Super Bowl. He sat on
the bench. The entirety of the confettis celebration with the
weight of the world on his shoulders. And that's a
grown man. So imagine being an eighteen year old that
fumbles at the goal line in the Big Trophy game.
(19:09):
And now you open up your social media too, thousands
of Rabbit gamblers who were blaming you specifically for that
loss on some mental health ship. David like, where does this?
How does the school then work to try to protect
the players from that type of verbal abuse and attacks.
It's bad enough for you're dealing with a Rabbit fan base,
but a Rabbit fan base who also lost money. I
(19:31):
don't know if that should be part of the regular
weight that a college athlete should have to took cost
this point of all the other weight that you're carrying,
now you're carrying verbal abuse from strangers. It's disgusting, it
really is. It's one of the things that really drives
me crazy. And we're actually doing some reporting on that
right now. And there is a company called sport Radar.
It's a big tech company that analyzes a lot of data,
(19:53):
and they have actually dedicated a whole department to identifying
abusive behavior on social media towards athletes. So that's one
way they are trying to combat it, but it's very,
very difficult. And I'll tell you a quick little story.
There was a kid that they called parlay Pats, and
he was known for making these big parlay bets, right,
and he was winning every once in a while, and
(20:14):
he was really kind of getting some media publicity. You
never well, sooner or later, uh FBI got ahold of him,
and it turns out he was sending uh just awful,
the worst profane direct messages to athletes. I mean we're
talking about like we're gonna slit your wife's throat with
a dull blade and your children and all these terrible things.
(20:36):
And his idea was, I'm going to send these to
these athletes and get them worried about me, and then
I'm gonna bet against them, and so it can get
really really ugly. He was eventually convicted and put on
probation for a long time. But there are some really
really dangerous to these and it does scare me. And
yet it's fun to bet on two teams that I
(21:00):
don't know care. On a Tuesday night, I'm on the road,
roy I just bombed at a casino and Lacrosse, Wisconsin,
let me go bet a couple of bucks on the
double a baseball team, and now I have something to
do tonight. It does give everything steaks. It gives everything steaks. Yeah,
there's just there's something with regards to the dopamine of
(21:23):
it as well that I think where it becomes kind
of an addiction thing. Like I used to play online
poker back when that before the Fitch shut that down,
I was up like four hundred bucks when to this
day I haven't got my four hundred dollars back from
Poker Stars. But like that was fun and exciting to do.
But on the money side of it, David, if it's
(21:43):
so lucrative, and you know, the lottery's already getting education
conference stuff pretty good for a lot of states, why
isn't every state on board with the legalized sports betting?
Like like you look at California, right, California had a
measure on the ballot and they were like, nah, we're fine,
we don't need to legalize that. Even Florida said no,
(22:04):
which I was very you know, it was very intrigued
by that, Like what do states have to gain or
lose from legalizing sports betting? The fact that Florida said
note to anything on a ballot. It's just shocking. Yeah,
politics are in play and all these big states, but
it does feel almost inevitable eventually those three states, it
was big states, Texas, Florida, California. They're gonna get it done.
(22:26):
Texas remains one of the few states without casino gambling,
so there's some resistance to all gambling from the conservative
nature of that state. That's resistance is slowly eroding. And
the sports leagues and their sports owners over there, Mark Cuban,
Jerry Jones are kind of pushed in that envelope. Florida
and California each have these complex compacts with Native American tribes.
They control the gambling in those states. It gets a
(22:49):
little real tricky to get it done. Florida is closer
to getting it done than California at this point. Uh,
but my belief eventually, probably were next five to seven years,
all those will get done, if not sooner. And what
they gain is that revenue. What they lose is any
of the backlash and any of the issues that we've covered.
So we got to make sure that revenue is worth
(23:09):
taking on the backlash and the issues that come about
with it. Roy Roy, do you ever bet on high
Lie in Miami. No, but I've gone to it. I
don't bet on ship. I don't understand. I mean that
ship is rigged for sure. But my dad used to
take us and we would throw down two bucks on
some guy and watch him play catch with a basket
tied to his hand, and we go, what the ship
is going on? But it was no clue what it is.
(23:32):
And like if I don't understand the mechanics of it,
you know, but the stuff I do understand, I get
way too granular on, which is just That's part of
why I just like, I'll buy when the power ball
gets up to a billion, then I'll do that. And
if I'm out with buddies in Vegas, I'll do a
little bit of black jack um. But you know, outside
(23:52):
of that, most of the gambling that I've done on
a regular basis is long term stuff. I got a
hundred bucks buying fantasy football pot that I buy into
every year with some buddies from college, and then I
might do like the I don't know what it's called, David,
but at the beginning of the baseball season, I will
bet on which team will lose one hundred games and
I'll put bucks. Yeah, the futures, I'll put a hundred
(24:15):
bucks on the Cincinnati Reds to suck. And then all
of a sudden they go on a surge in June
and you just know they're not gonna lose a hundred
They're gonna lose ninety three. Okay, well, I'm done watching
baseball all year. How partisan is this issue, David, You know,
in the sense of from the lobby and standpoint, from
the casinos, from the sports books angle. You know, is
(24:37):
this an issue that is dividing Democrats and Republicans or
they just both in the same place of going, Hey,
the money's got to be right. Yeah, the money's got
to be right money. There's not really ever partisan, and
everybody knows they can get it. They just got to
figure out the best ways they can. And you get
the conservative pushback every once in a while. There are
against the moralists that think gambling is against their morals
(25:00):
and it shouldn't be brought upon in an illegal setting.
The argument against that, of course, is if we bring
it into a legal setting, we're allowed to put in
these protections and hopefully kind of try to identify any
of the issues that we may have, whether that be
an addiction or a game fixing scandal. Whereas your local
bookie down at the at the barroom, he's certainly not
going to say, hey, I think you may be betting
(25:22):
too much, and he's gonna say, hey, if you want
to bet on this next game. So there are positive
pros and cons for both. Um for his partisan of it,
it's not much people they see the money, they want
to get their part. For someone dealing with gambling addiction,
it's it's hard to escape because there are constant commercials
(25:42):
and ads and promos, and it's ricks free. The first
bet is free, will match your first two hundred dollars
when you put your money in the account. Is enough
being done to regulate and enforce responsible gaming? And you know, David,
how we compare to other countries, Like what are some
(26:03):
of the changes that they've made in Europe with regards
to gambling to try to curtail addiction. Yeah, it's gonna
be tough for anybody to avoid. Uh. Seeing these commercials
are the advertisements that ever they used to be up
on the on the main buses that were traveling through
the Northeast. You would see big ads for FanDuel and
so forth. So it's gonna be very difficult until we
(26:23):
do get some sort of pullback on the advertising, and
I do believe that is coming. In the UK, they've
already started that kind of read looking at how should
we keep advertising away from sports and they are going
to do what they call a whistle to whistle band
where you will not allow to be allowed to air
sports bending commercials throughout a match, and as the match
(26:45):
starts through the end of it, you will not be
able to to to air any kind of sports bending commercials. Now,
some of the soccer players still have ads for sports
books on their jerseys and you see them around the
runners board. So uh, there's a lot of things that
are going to have to change. Is gonna make it
very difficult for anybody that is struggling with sports betting
(27:06):
or with gambling addiction overall to avoid them. Wait till line,
how MESSI gets like a fan duel dot com tattoo on.
It's coming the way they putting ads on all the jerseys.
But then you have you have companies like DraftKings though
where like they'll advise you on how much money, like
you can set how much you're gonna put into your
(27:26):
account every week or how much you can wage uring
you know, they've also donated to the International Center for
Responsible Gaming, Like they collaborate with all of these different
associations and groups and things like that. But is that
placation Like if you look at the NFL, right, the
NFL through six million at the National Council on Problem Gambling,
(27:48):
that's like one I don't want to call it alcoholics anonymous,
but they're like a group that is focused on helping
people get past those addictions. Can you, in earnest be
a part of the problem and the solution or is
the problem not your fault? Because there's always going to
be people that over indulge. I think that the ladder there,
(28:09):
there's always going to be again that that three to
five percent of people that gamble will develop some sort
of gambling disorder or gamble type problems. Um. We can
only try to help them as much as we can. UM.
And I you know, I applied the NFL for giving
the National Council and Problem Coming all that money that
that that doubled their their national budget. You know that
(28:30):
that this is these are were not well funded companies,
These ones that try to help with gamble addictions, so
any kind of money we can get them. And again
I think that's Michael mentioned that, you know, I think
that's a good thing from legalization comes out because we
are trying to help them. We are trying to throw
some of the money. While as the corner bookmaker who
was offering credit to the local college kid and all
(28:52):
of a sudden he burns through his five dollars of
credit and he doesn't have that money. Well, that local
bookmaker isn't saying, oh hey, you know, let me help
you out that they are trying to continue to take
that money. So I think there are pros and cons
from it, and I do think that if we look
at it, look at all over, there's a little bit
more positivity to to legalization of sports betting than it
(29:14):
were to keep it in an underground. David, you said
it's three to five will develop a problem, But I'm
willing to bet two hundred bucks with you that. It's
more like you will take that. Yeah, I'll take that.
I'll take the under on. That's the deal. What country
was you talking about in the first break when you
say you can gamble on middle school? Which kids? She
(29:36):
was gonna come untied. Yeah in England, England and the
weather you can bet on the weather over there. And
I don't think we'll ever reach a point where we
can say that we've got a problem gambling under control.
There's always going to be people that struggle with it.
I think the key is trying to identify it quickly, because,
like we talked about inspiral out of control. Quickly you think, uh,
(29:57):
you know you're gonna only be down a thousand, you'll
be able to pay that off. All of a sudden,
you're down two thousand and you don't got the money
and you gotta pay, and now you get nervous and
then you make bad decisions to try to get that money. So, uh,
it's gonna be an internal challenge for all the stakeholders.
That's why I stopped fooling around with fan Duel and like,
like I took all that ship off my phone, bro,
(30:19):
like all of the mobile betting stuff, Draft Kings, the
Draft King commercials. First off, I feel like a red
bull at I feel like ad for like a motorcyclist.
Draft Kings come on down and go on your favorite
football play. How much more does that type of stuff
make people vulnerable to gambling addiction. That that's I've thought
(30:41):
a lot about this, and I believe I'm in the
camp of people were doing this. Anyways, I'm happy we're
legalizing and maybe getting some revenue. But what I hate
is when my three year old daughter eyes are drawn
to Jamie Fox pushing a gambling at like that. It's
(31:02):
almost like the cigarette companies with the cartoons on the
boxes at this point. Yeah, they're pushing them too hard,
Like we're adults. Adults should be able to partake in
their vices, in my opinion, and gambling is one of
those vices. But it seems too aggressive now and I'm
I want them to slow it down. Please. There's definitely
(31:23):
something to that, you know, because like even with some
of the apps that my son uses, some of the
incentives and this is this is an educational app to
teach you learning, but some of the incentives, Oh, if
you answer this question, you get this many coins, and
then you can double the coins if you answer one
more question. It's like some prices, right deal or no deal?
(31:45):
Ship all in the effort to get a better hat
for your avatar so he can continue on the journey
through the learning environment or whatever. But this idea that
the apps, like David, how does that affect you know,
mental health? Like do the apps helped to introduce more
young people into gambling because we're talking about fifteen year
olds where what's the checking balances? Are you eighteen? Do
(32:08):
you promise you're a team? All? Right? Click here right?
Or hand your your mom hands with the phone whatever?
But gamble, you know, the gamblification they call it a
video games and any time of those things are worrisome.
It's a big issue over overseas right now. Those loot
boxes that they call them, where you're playing a CS
GO or whatever video game you're playing, and if you
(32:31):
get this lootbox that can kind of parlay your your
skin of your gun, you get a stronger gun, and
you know, people start selling these things on the black market.
And there's been lots of discussion on that. So, uh
it's something we're gonna have to pay attention closely to
the number of commercials. NFL decided they were only gonna
do six sports book, sports book or sports betting commercials
(32:51):
per per game. Uh is even seemed like a lot
because we went from zero to six. Um, so I
do eventually think we're gonna get some pushback, some regulator
are gonna say, Okay, we've gone a little too far.
And to that point, David, after the break, I want
to talk a little bit more about what the future
of sports betting looks like. Will they put micro chips
in our heads? Will I just think to myself, Jalen
(33:12):
hurts over three hundred yards less than two interceptions, and
then think it's just automatically taken from my checking account
of something. Well, we'll see what the future sports betting
looks like. This is beyond the scenes. We'll be right
back beyond the scenes. We are around in third and
headed for home. Wonderful conversation here about sports gambling and
(33:33):
things of that nature. Um, real quick, let me check
my fan, doel real quick, what's going and check the fan? Okay,
it's looking good. I think I got my line up. Said,
there we go, David. How far away are we from
middle school soccer gambling? Respect a long ways? We're not
gonna get there. They are betting on high school sports,
but most of those are done in those illegal sports
(33:54):
books in the offshore world. But we're not gonna get
to medal school. And you want to see high school
betting up in the legal mark it. But but I
could see roy every you know, everything's going subscription model.
I could see where you could bet a season's worth
of bets, you know, I could see where they go. Okay, Costa,
you keep betting the Lions. Let's just automatically set your
(34:17):
bet every Sunday and you can go in and log
in and remember your password and cancel it if you want.
But we're just gonna place that for you automatically. I
can see that coming. They might already exist. I guess
I'm half kidding about middle school soccer. I really do
think eventually coming at But when we talk about the
future of sports betting and what it looks like in
the United States, is this something that will eventually extend
(34:38):
beyond sports? You know, we have the this is Awards
season for all the shows? How much more hardcore are
we gonna get into that? Like? Because I know people
bet on the winners, but at what point do we
just start gambling on the nominees. Well, you do have
betting on the oscars. It's a it's a pretty big market.
There will be more over millions of dollars. Is a
(35:00):
bet on the Academy Awards. You're going to eventually probably
see betting on elections. They do that in the UK,
where the U S presidential election is one of their
biggest political markets there is. If it was over here,
a lot of bookmakers think of betting on the presidency
would be the largest betting market we we offer over here.
So there will be some evolution of this and continue
(35:21):
to grow. Um hopefully we'll be smart about it and
not get into middle school soccer. What challenges lie here
for the sports betting providers other than getting all of
these politicians on board by bribing him under the temple,
I think you're eventually gonna see some pushback from regulators
on advertising. Like what you said, It seems like it
will also be inevitable that we're going to have another
(35:42):
gambling scandal like you know we repeatedly had throughout the
history of sports, even before legalization. There's a lot of money.
Whenever there's something with a lot of money involved, the
various actors come to play, and I really do think
there's gonna be some awful stories of people who lose
everything to gambling addiction. So the future, it's a little
sounds a little scary. Um, But I think that as
(36:03):
a society, UM, we are adults and we should be
allowed to use our vices responsibly. We just have to
make sure and try to do that right. We We
cannot uh let things get spiral out of control, whether
for individuals or as a society a whole when it
comes to gambling. This is what I would do if
(36:24):
I was a college kid and I needed to make
some money and I was open to being scandalized. I
wouldn't take the bet to lose the game, right, that's
too big. People might notice that. But you you you
take the money to not have as many assists, or
in the first half you don't play gray and it's
a first half bet, I feel like the scandal might
(36:47):
be as not they lost the game or he missed
the free throw with no time left. It's always these
little like first quarter bets are like, you know, that's
that's where you could really make some money. I'm not
not advising them to do that, but I am. Let's
go down this road. I like this, How would I
be corruptible if I was still in the game, Like,
(37:09):
if you know your quarterback is gonna get sucked twice
and I'm an old lineman that I'm gonna bet that
he's gonna get sacked three times because on one or
those plays, I'm gonna let the d lineman go pass.
And now that's three sex and it's only one play
out of the greater what seventy year eighty offensive snaps? Again?
So did I throw the game? Or did I just
pay for a couple of extra textbooks? How much money
are you trying to make off that I'm trying to
(37:31):
retire day you're trying to retire, You're not going to
be able to retire on betting on sacks. The way
the books combat that is they put limits on it,
so you may be able to get it, you know,
a few thousand dollars down at one book, maybe five
hundred or another book, but you're not gonna make retiring
money on there. The big markets are that the two
win the game, I didn't know the game, the point spread, right,
(37:52):
those are the ones that have the biggest limits. So
if you're gonna try to retire off some sort of
match fixing scheme, and you know it is a federal
crime and you would serve time if you were caught, Uh,
you're going to have to play uh to to you know,
win the game or cover the spread, and you're gonna
have to be able to disguise your money, right. You
can't put all this money, millions of dollars on some random,
(38:16):
low level college basketball, and then where do you deposit
that without having to report it? Now, you gotta have
the money in the backyard like Denzel Washington and American Gangster,
and then the rats start eating your money like the
drug dealer and bad boys too, because you've got so
much cash you can't wash it. I mean, we're back,
We're back to uncut gems. So last question then, for
(38:38):
both of you all, what are your predictions for the
Super Bowl? Who you're betting on? Do you bet? David?
We never even asked you that I am the worst
better there ever is? I My Twitter profile says I
write about gambling, but I am not good at gambling,
and it's true. So with that said, I'm gonna take
heads on the coin toss. Okay, I'm not an enormous
(38:59):
football fan, but I'm an America fan, and I love
how we make it a spectacle. I love nobody entertains
like Americans, so I usually get in on those like
commercial bets. Who's the first beer ad? I like the
bets about the commercials or how many derrito ads are
they're gonna be? And uh, as far as the game goes,
(39:20):
I'm staying off. I'm staying away from that well until
you're right now, friends, I got some hot That's the
other thing we didn't even get to talk about was
this gambling experts. Guys. Just hey, guys, hot tip eagles
over my homes. Just found out Patty Mahomes didn't have
his traditional smoothie that he has pre game. You gotta
(39:40):
take the over on these guys, man, They're just looking
good traditionally in games under fifty degrees in the Western
time zone. I just think you can't stop Jalen Hurts
and it like they get so granular on the stats.
I'm like you were on cocaine and I do not
trust you in the least. I wish we had more
time to talk about this, but this is extremely, extremely fast. Nati,
(40:00):
David Michael, thank you for going beyond the scenes with me.
Much love my fan do it onm okay, listen to
the Daily Show Beyond the Scenes on Apple podcast, the
I Heart Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts
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