The Impact of Super Bowl Betting: A Reflection on Excessive Gambling and Society's Priorities
The week has finally come. The biggest sporting event in history. A showdown of two of the best in the NFL. The Kansas City Taylor Swifts vs San Francisco 49ers. A rematch of Super Bowl LIV. A year ago, I spent all of two weeks “researching” and “cooking” it up, in the “lab” trying to put together parlays and which props to take. I got fired from that lab. It’s fine, that was such a waste of time. Instead of doing that this year, I’m in a new lab, cooking up this blog. Will I watch this year? No, I am just concerned for Taylor Swift being able to make it to her THIRTEENTH NFL game this season. I mean, making it to the Super Bowl in her first season in the NFL is amazing. The next Tom Brady?
I remember the few days leading up to it. I had just taken out a loan to pay down my credit card so I thought I had some wiggle room to deposit and gamble with. I was constantly depositing more money into the sportsbooks from my credit card, chasing losses before the big game. I kept hiding it from my best friend because of how ashamed I was in the first place. Everytime she was looking in my direction I would hide my phone or dim the brightness so she could not tell. I was scared of the inevitable.The week after I was heading to Vegas for a conference so the “winnings” were being withdrawn to gamble more the week after. Not really much of “winnings”. I lost almost half of the money I deposited that weekend. Did I think it was a problem? No. Others were doing it so it was “cool”. We’re just sheep following the herd.
Last year’s Super Bowl was the biggest sporting event wagered. Americans spent nearly $1.1 billion….that's 1 thousand millions… and yet Americans are broke, living paycheck to paycheck. We wonder why? We're wasting it on stupid sports that don’t matter in the long run (and thats right, i used stupid and sports in the same sentence). Majority of spectators don’t like either team, they just want, as Fanduels tagline says “a piece of the action”. I mean, does it really matter if the Star-Spangled Banner is over 2:30? The only people that truly care about the coin toss: degenerate gamblers. Also, as much as I love Taylor Swift, can we just let her live her life with Travis and not make everything such a big deal? Let's just wait until April 19th to figure out which new song is about her current relationship and how happy she is. {(Taylor (Swift), if you’re reading this, I love you, please call when you break up with Travis)}
No numbers are out yet, but I am assuming with more states legalizing online gambling, it will hit near $25 billion if not more wagered on one sporting event. To make matters worse, this is the first time ever in Las Vegas. Sin City. Lost Wages. The Divorce Capital of the World. The city will be filled with so many degenerates this week, I am so happy to not be joining in on this mess and the sportsbooks won’t be getting any of my hard-earned money. One thing I do know, the problem gambler help lines and r/problemgambling will all have increased traffic after Sunday when people start realizing they have a problem and I will be there for them waiting to talk and help guide in a positive direction anyway I can.
You’re most likely going to see an influx of sportsbook ads over the next week or so with promotions from these sportsbooks to open an account. The first thing to realize, there's no such thing as “free” money. Don’t fall for it.
It’s a literal trap. (Star Wars, Football and Taylor Swift, 3 of my favorite things) . Stay strong all. We’re in this life long fight together.
