It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
19 May 2025
It's been seven years since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting outside of Nevada. For some, it's a hobby that spices up a game, but for others it's become a side hustle or investing strategy. And in a time where 60% of U.S. households don't earn enough to afford basic costs of living... that can be a problem.This... is Money Troubles. And for the next few weeks, we're looking into the ways everyday people are trying to make ends meet... and what it says about how our culture views labor, basic needs, or even our favorite pastimes.Today on the show, writer Manny Fidel and journalist Danny Funt join Brittany to get into how sports betting is changing the way we watch sports, and what that means for the love of the game.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Full Episode
Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. As you all know, I was obsessed with the 2025 Papal Conclave. There were TikTok edits about all the potential candidates, a Twitter account called Club Conclave, dedicating to following the updates.
And before Pope Leo XIV was chosen to lead the Catholic Church, the media was in a full speculative frenzy. But there was just one aspect of the process that I did not expect. People betting on the outcome of the conclave. Similar to the 2024 presidential election, the conclave became a type of sport to follow. And where there's sports, there's sports betting.
It's only been seven years since the Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates for legal betting outside Nevada. In that time, Americans have wagered nearly half a trillion dollars.
That is Danny Funt. He covers sports betting for The Washington Post and is currently working on a book about the sports betting boom. He's been following how sports betting is changing sports and attracting new groups to the possibility of winning big.
In other forms of gambling, like slots or playing the lottery, a lot of women traditionally play that. The gender divide is so stark in sports betting, like perhaps 80-20 men who like this sort of adrenaline rush of... high-risk, high-reward games, sports betting is pretty appealing to them.
A whopping 48% of men 18 to 49 have an account with at least one of the online sportsbooks. Now, if the term sportsbook sounds unfamiliar to you, don't worry. You probably know these ones. DraftKings. Now, I know Super Bowl and all, but everyone gets a free bet? I love betting on the NBA with FanDuel, especially when I've got the world's greatest basketball mind on my side.
Platforms like FanDuel and DraftKings give potential bettors access to all types of odds, wagers and bets just with a swipe of their finger.
You don't physically have to go to the casino. That is like rundown and seedy looking like it's just on your phone.
That is Manny Fidel, a writer and producer who sometimes bets on sports himself.
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