How sports gambling is changing the game

The Journal-News turned to Mike Fry, professor of operations, business analytics and information systems at the University of Cincinnati’s Lindner College of Business to break down the rise and the risks of sports betting.

“It totally changed how fans follow games,” Fry said. “It drove interest from watching ‘your team’ to watching dozens of players from dozens of games. You can really make any game interesting — it’s very much about the individual.”

Today, fans can place proposition bets, or prop bets, on specific players’ stats — how many yards they will run, how many touchdowns they will score — all on their phone while sitting on the couch.

And it’s not just fans placing hyper-specific bets. People involved in games can throw in wagers, too. “As prop bets become more and more specific, it’s easier for people even peripherally involved in the game to influence the outcome of these bets,” Fry said. “And it’s becoming a bigger and bigger problem.”

Fry told the Journal-News that the growth of legalized markets since the federal ban lifted in 2018 has been a major catalyst behind the accessibility of today’s sports betting. 

“It’s growing so fast. We’re still in a very reactive mode,” Fry explained. “It’s difficult because each state is making their own rules.” He also warned of the addictive nature of gambling and the harm it can cause individuals.

Read the full Journal-News story. 

Featured image at top of a person holding a fan of money. Photo/Unsplash