Five years ago, the US Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on most sports betting. Since then, the industry has exploded: Nearly $190 billion worth of wagers have been made on the results of sports games in the US since then. This Sunday (Feb. 12), 50 million Americans will bet on the Super Bowl game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Super Bowl, the biggest annual sporting event in the US, will see a 60% increase in bets placed on the game compared to 2022, according to the American Gaming Association.
Tomorrow, the Weekend Brief will look at the human compulsion to predict the outcomes of sporting events, and an industry that’s making it easier to bet on games as trivial as second-tier football fixtures or as huge as Super Bowl LVII.
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