A small risk rarely leads to a big reward, but it is certainly not impossible. Last week, one sports betting customer won more than $142,000 from a three-way bet, betting three NFL tight ends would score the first touchdowns in their respective games. Kings Project Published on X. The initial bet was only $15.
The far bigger hit than a small bet is the temptation to invest. It is a type of betting that, rather than requiring a single win to profit from a bet, relies on a series of winning scenarios that – although not all of them are likely to occur – allow the winnings to grow from a two-figure bet to a six-figure payout. This seemingly low-risk, high-reward form of gambling has revolutionized the world of sports betting.
“The real appeal of it is the crazy payout rate,” said Joshua Grubbs, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico who studies gambling addiction. luck. “You see a small number, a big payoff, and that attracts people because it seems like an amazing prospect.”
Although winning bettors may look like big winners, it is the sportsbooks that have benefited from the growing fever surrounding sports betting. In 2024, the hobby generated $13.71 billion, an increase of 25.4% from 2023, according to State regulatory data Compiled by the American Gaming Association.
Investment operations are often rainmakers for sportsbooks Over 70% of NFL and NBA bets FanDuel is coming from rewards in 2023, according to parent company FanDuel Flutter Entertainment.Parlays accounted for 56% of sports betting revenue in Illinois, New Jersey and Colorado in 2021, Wall Street Journalreported to Earlier this year. According to the Center for the Study of Gambling at Rutgers University, New Jersey bettors lost $1.41 for every $1 won in 2020. This compares to a ratio of $1.05 to $1 loss for full bets on the moneyline.
Furthermore, betting bets become more complex over time, reducing the chances of winning. Rutgers reported that in 2020, the most popular betting games had five legs. In the previous year, two-foot pawn games were the most popular.
“The idea of investing in general is statistically so unlikely to happen, it’s one of the surest ways for sportsbooks to make money on it,” Grubbs said.
Rising parlays
The sports betting industry has yet to achieve great success Supreme Court decision 2018 The ban on sports gambling was effectively overturned, paving the way for 38 states to legalize the practice. Its popularity has even trickled down to the sports industry itself: this week the NCAA Take a step forward In allowing athletes and division employees to bet on professional sports after the first division’s administrative committee approves this shift.
With a plethora of apps taking betting from the casino to a person’s pocket, the industry has captured the attention of Generation Z, which has seen a 7% year-over-year increase in online sports betting activity as of Q2 2025. TransUnion Found in a a report Released last month. Access to online sports betting has benefited from Generation Z’s love of gambling, with enthusiasts championing the practice as… A form of investment.
For betting in particular, there’s a dearth of research on why sports betting customers are interested, said Shane Krause, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. luck. He said the customizable features of bet type (users can choose different legs of their bonuses) as well as the ability to create bets after the game has started, make it particularly attractive. behind By offering incentives for referring platforms to others, emerging apps have also created ways to bet alongside friends, setting up leaderboards and teams of other users.
Then, of course, there is research Which suggests that alcohol consumption, which is often associated with sports viewing, is associated with higher bets and faster money loss.
“You’re excited, you’re upset, you’re drinking, you’re watching a football game, and then you start doing live betting or live betting — I don’t think you’re likely to make the best decisions,” Kraus said.
But Kraus, who studies gambling disorders, attributes the growing popularity of payouts less to users, and more to sportsbooks. Although sports betting ad spending has remained steady at About $666 million in 2024according to Nelson’s announcement IntelKrause said the messages from sportsbooks are everywhere, including during games and matches, when commentators walk viewers through extreme odds and payouts.
“It creates a culture where it’s all just about the money,” he said.
Crackdown on sports betting platforms
Krause said he fears there won’t be enough work on the apps to tempt users from placing more bets, or at least slow them down. Gambling addiction affects just over 1% of the population, resulting in some Gambling away on unemployment checks And even lose their homes.
For their part, sports betting platforms have taken steps to put safeguards into effect. FanDuel has set up a review system on its platform to look into a user’s hours on the site or language used with customer service teams that could trigger a review, the outcome of which could result in a player being removed from the platform through a “timeout” or imposition of a deposit limit, a FanDuel spokesperson said. luck. About 90% of bets on the same game on the platform have a bet of $30 or less and 60% have a bet of $5 or less.
“Our customers understand that these are fun and entertaining bets with a lower probability of winning,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
But Professor Grubbs of the University of New Mexico pointed out that as long as betting is as easy as pressing a few buttons on a phone, “there is a high probability of things going sideways.”
“I don’t think these sportsbooks are saying, ‘Oh, we need to get people addicted to gambling.’ I don’t think that’s what they’re trying to do,” Grubbs said. “I think they’re trying to make their product as accessible and attractive as possible, to get as many people involved as possible.
“And what’s the net effect of that? Well, the net effect of that is that sports betting has increased dramatically since 2018,” he concluded.
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