Manny Fidel
Appearances
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
You don't physically have to go to the casino. That is like rundown and seedy looking like it's just on your phone.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
You might feel more comfortable betting on Aaron Rodgers to throw a touchdown than you would be on the 50-50 chance of getting a red versus a black in roulette, for example.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Specifically, I've had this beef with the same game parlay. It's lottery-esque, right? It's like you can bet $10 and win $1,000.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Have you guys ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect? I think that comes into play with sports betting where bettors who are disproportionately men feel like in sports they know better than the chances of the thing happening. If I put $25 into the S&P 500, generally speaking, you might get... $50 in a year or something like that.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
You'll get some returns on it. Whereas if I put $25 on Steph Curry to make four three-pointers tonight, I'll get my $25 back immediately for $50. Now, that's a trap, right? That's what the sports books want you to feel like.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Whoa. That's what really concerns me about the kind of advertising that we see from sports books. And specifically, I've had this beef with the same game parlay.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Regular bet, you know, you bet $10 on the Lakers to win. Same game parlay is you bet $10 that the Lakers are going to win, but also that LeBron James is going to score 20 points, and also that Austin Reeves is going to score 10 points, and the more steps you add to it, the higher your payout will be. But every single step has to be successful. Even if one of the 10 fails, then your bet loses.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
And this is the kind of bet that I've seen the most advertising about from sports books. It seems incredibly risky. It's incredibly risky. And it's sports books presenting you this... fantasy.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
There's been a lot of discourse about the male loneliness epidemic. And in that sense, I see... all of these like new kind of micro communities and group chats being formed. And I feel like a weird sense of warmth that like men are talking to each other about something every day and creating these different avenues for communication. Obviously I'm someone who's like, all right, there's a limit.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Like, You've got to be able to engage in this activity responsibly. Just so my friends don't yell at me after they hear this, I do think sports betting can be fun if you're doing it responsibly and not using it to get rich quick.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Yeah, and that desperation layer to it resonates so much because even on social media, you see people who have placed bets tagging actual athletes in their posts, screaming at them for not making the last layup or whatever at the end of the game. You've seen people have real-life interactions with athletes.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
That to me speaks to the most poisonous aspects of sports betting where you would bring yourself to go outside of the app and confront an athlete about their performance on your bet. And so that's definitely scary as a mental concern.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Yeah, I think of sports viewing, you know, as a very kind of ceremonial almost experience. And I've started to see very tiny but very existent examples of like... the game of the purity of basketball, for example, being affected by sports betting, not just in the audience, but also like on the actual court. So, you know, we've had actual players get in trouble for betting. John Tate Porter.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Yes, that's right. So he's been kind of just completely banned from the league. Thankfully, that was the right thing for the NBA to do. But we don't know the full extent of that, if that's happening in other places where players haven't been caught yet.
It's Been a Minute
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Thank you.