The Economics of Sports Gambling (Ep. 388 Rebroadcast)

Freakonomics Radio

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Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 32K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2020

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What happens when tens of millions of fantasy-sports players are suddenly able to bet real money on real games? We’re about to find out. A recent Supreme Court decision has cleared the way to bring an estimated $300 billion in black-market sports betting into the light. We sort out the winners and losers.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner.
0:04.6	Before we get started, this week marks the debut of People I Mostly Admire, the new
0:09.0	podcast from my Freakonomics friend and co-author, Steve Levit.
0:12.1	So go subscribe right now wherever you get your podcasts.
0:16.2	The first episode comes out at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, August 21st.
0:21.3	We will actually be putting out the first four episodes of Levit's new show right here
0:25.4	in the Freakonomics Radio Feed, every other Friday night.
0:28.5	But we encourage you to subscribe to People I Mostly Admire on your favorite podcast
0:33.1	app.
0:34.1	That way, you'll be sure to never miss an episode.
0:36.9	And now, today we are playing for you an episode about the economics of sports gambling
0:41.6	that we first released last year.
0:43.9	You remember sports, right?
0:46.0	Back in March, as the COVID-19 pandemic was setting in, the sports industry went dark,
0:51.4	including the professional leagues, March madness, summer Olympics.
0:55.9	When their absence eSports continued to grow, along with gambling on eSports, and now
1:01.8	live sports are making their way back onto television, albeit without live fans.
1:07.5	This is good news not only for people who like to watch sports, but again, for those who
1:12.5	like to bet on them.
1:14.3	The pent up demand for betting opportunities, coupled with the fact that online betting
1:18.4	is a very pandemic-friendly activity, means that the sports betting industry, which seemed
1:24.0	to be in pretty good shape last year when we reported this episode, is now headed for
	...

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