“Everything about online sports betting seems like a recipe for getting people to overdo it: the mere seconds it takes to deposit money from a bank, PayPal, or Venmo account, or even a credit card in some states; the vast menu of games and props available for betting at all hours; the incessant ads; the daily emails becoming customers with promotions whenever they take a break from gambling.” (p. 239)
“An estimated $1.76 billion was legally wagered on Super Bowl LX in 2026, setting a new record for the event according to the American Gaming Association. This amount represents a significant increase over the $1.25 billion bet in 2024, driven by legal betting availability in 38 states plus Washington D.C.”
With March Madness just around the corner, more people–especially young men–will be betting on college basketball games. Billions of dollars will be wagered. If you have a cell phone, you have a casino in your pocket.
Danny Funt shows how the betting boom at FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and other gambling sites depends on the troubling methods that are being used to bleed gamblers dry. Everybody Loses (2026) is the first major investigation into America’s sports gambling industry. Funt quotes sportsbook executives who admit to misleading customers, with one admitting they’re “selling that you can win, but you can’t.”
The U.S. Supreme Court approved legalized sports gambling nationwide on May 14, 2018, by ruling in Murphy v. NCAA that the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was unconstitutional. This 6-3 decision struck down the federal ban, allowing individual states to legalize and regulate sports betting. This unleashed a torrent of states approving legalized sports gambling…for the tax revenue it would produce. My state, New York, as of late 2025 data, has generated over $1 billion in tax revenue from online sports betting, continuing its position as a national leader in gambling tax collections.
Everybody Loses explains why sports gambling is suddenly everywhere–and why the odds are so great that the problems it’s creating will soon spiral out of control with gambling addiction, cheating, and increased bankruptcies. Many people’s lives will be devastated by legalized gambling. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction — 1
- Original sin — 11
2. A silver bullet — 37
3. Let the games begin — 69
4. The media go all in — 97
5. Winners not welcome — 123
6. Very important people — 157
7. Confidence game — 181
8. The action never stops — 199
9. Foul play — 215
10. We have a problem — 239
11. The house doesn’t always win — 271
12. Gambling on the future — 271
Acknowledgements — 295
Index — 297
As seems to be the case with so many things in the past decade, things that should be regulated (like gambling) aren’t while things that should be private personal decisions (abortion, consensual sexual activity between adults) are. Talk about bizarro world writ large.
Half the fun, intruding into the lives of others, much as bankruptcy allows further such trespass. As someone who doesn’t gamble in any monetary way and doesn’t follow pro/semi-pro sports in any but the most casual way, it does seem like self-selecting self-destruction…albeit with too many partners and dependents also getting hurt, for the benefit of shady organizations.
Todd, like you I don’t gamble in casinos. My “gambling” is in the Stock Market where “the House Doesn’t Always Win.” I’ve won a lot more than I’ve lost!
Deb, the NFL and other professional sports leagues fought the forces that wanted to legalize Sports Gambling. But someone finally “ran the numbers” and showed the NFL how lucrative Sports Betting could be. And so, here we are…
I don’t understand the why, the where, or the how of gambling, and I am very happy with that.
Somebody calling him(or her)self “Megamyman” made $553,000 by betting on the Polymarket prediction platform the Ayatollah Khamenei’s death just hours before he was killed in a bomb strike. Donald Trump Junior is an advisor to Polymarket and one of his companies has invested in the firm. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.
Jerry, long ago, I taught 8:00 A.M. classes. I had a colleague who also taught 8:00 A.M. classes, but he would get up at 4:00 A.M. and drive to the casino in Canada and gamble for an hour…each day! He told me it was his “retirement strategy.” Meanwhile, I retired and he’s still working because he gambled away all his retirement savings. Like you, I have no interest in sports gambling, but I know plenty of people who do.
Also, completely off-topic: https://bitsandpieces.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sunday-afternoon-random-randomness-3-21-21-19.jpg.webp
Jerry, thanks for the link!
Time well spent. I hope no one was grousing about the Big Git Fiddle.
First, all online gambling ads should be banned from television. Any celebrity – I’m looking at you, Matt Damon – taking money to push gambling sites needs to be smacked. But then, the NFL is blatantly pushing gambling on the Super Bowl in the most egregious way. (“Let’s see which quarterback adjusts the package first.”)
As Bill Crider so often said, we’re doomed, doomed.
And as Deb says, I’m glad I’m old.
That said, people spending money they can’t afford to lose on gambling is nothing new. I remember as former brother in law spending hundreds on lottery tickets he was never going to win.
Jeff, I see raggedy people standing in the SERVICE line at Wegmans buying LOTTO tickets. They need food, new clothes, and some a shave…but they buy losing LOTTO tickets instead.
I’m glad I don’t feel the need to gamble other than a couple of lottery tickets a year
Maggie, you can control your betting. I know many people who can’t…
You can’t lose if you don’t try!
I never bet on sports or table games at the casino! I am fond of slot machines despite getting my butt kicked the last few trips there! But I know when to stop, usually, and since I don’t attend concerts, fairs, or movies, I consider what I lose my entertainment dollar! Just so you know, I go to the casino (The Emerald Queen) twice a month, sometimes thrice!
Bob, whatever floats your boat! I’d rather spend my money on books and music CDs.
I have enough books and CDs to last me two lifetimes!
Bob, I do, too. But I’m finding new homes for my books every week.