Trendlines: Why the Big Beautiful Bill's gambling provision matters so much
This week, we're talking about the biggest change to sports fandom in the last decade and arguably this century: Gambling.
It's a topic that is at the top of the news now because of a provision in President Donald Trump's recently passed 'big, beautiful bill,' which could be detrimental to professional gamblers in the way that it taxes losses.
Indeed, there is a lot on the line whenever we talk about sports gambling. Betting on sports has gone from the back rooms to appearing seemingly everywhere on your television and computer screen.
Americans can't get enough, and legal gambling one of the most profitable industries.
Just how profitable is it?
Let's start with the money of it all.
It used to be that Nevada was the only place you could legally gamble on sports. That was the case all the way through 2017. Nevada properties raked in about $260 million in revenue that year. Bettors placed about $5 billion in bets.
Then came 2018. Thanks to a Supreme Court decision, Nevada wasn't the only game in town. The floodgates were open, and now sports betting has become legal in the vast majority of the country.
The result is that legal sports gambling revenue shot up 50-fold to nearly $14 billion last year, with about $150 billion gambled overall.
The betting has been a boon to local governments, as well. We're talking billions in taxes.
A place like New York, which wasn't known for sports gambling outside of betting on the ponies, has been the biggest winner. There was over $2 billion in gross revenue and over a billion in taxes brought in during 2024 alone.
I can remember when 'sports betting' might as well have been a four-letter word. We were coming off the Pete Rose scandal back in the early 1990s. Rose had, of course, bet on the game he played so well.
Just 41% of Americans said in 1993 that it should be legal to bet on professional sports. The clear majority, 58%, disagreed.
Today, the numbers have flipped. The 58% majority now say that professional sports gambling should be legal in their state.
This is what I meant earlier on when I said that sports gambling can now be in the open. A big reason it can be in the open is because the American people accept it.
It might also be a reason that there has clearly been some backlash against the provision in the 'big, beautiful bill' that is harmful to gamblers.
The big problem with players betting on sports is that they may change the way they play if they place a wager. Maybe a pitcher throws a pitch in the dirt. Maybe a basketball player shaves points (e.g. misses shots when the team is way ahead).
Athletes have been accused of or found guilty of doing both of these. We're talking about the integrity of the game.
One of the biggest shifts since the time of Rose is that far fewer Americans are worried about this potential problem. Although 70% of Americans said that they believed betting encouraged college players to cheat in 1985, a mere 45% said they did by 2022.
Will this percentage shift as we hear about more players attached to gambling? Maybe.
I'd argue that is the biggest budding issue with gambling. Even more so than a 'big, beautiful bill.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Top South Dakota official apologizes for releasing voter data
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota's top elections official has apologized for the state releasing information about voters who also were seeking public assistance, such as food aid. Secretary of State Monae Johnson made the voter registration rolls of more than 600,000 voters public last month to comply with a new state law. But the spreadsheet of voter information also included a field for source of registration, which disclosed whether an individual registered to vote at a public assistance agency, such as those offering housing help and food assistance. Federal law prohibits the government from releasing information about those receiving public assistance. The data leak drew condemnation from across the state, and the American Civil Liberties Union called it an 'egregious violation of voters' privacy rights.' Johnson apologized on Friday. 'As Secretary of State, I take full responsibility for the release of this information. My office is committed to both transparency and protecting voter privacy," Johnson said in statement. 'Upon discovering the issue, we acted immediately to remove the data and prevent further dissemination.' The information was taken off the website Friday, the day after the ACLU sent a letter to the office demanding the state fix the issue. Individuals who had their information disclosed have been notified by mail, and those with access to the information will be asked to delete it. The secretary of state also clarified that registering at a public assistance agency does not necessarily mean an individual is receiving benefits. In South Dakota, a person can register to vote at driver's license exam stations, disability service offices, military recruitment centers and county auditor offices in addition to public assistance agencies. The ACLU is now encouraging those who were impacted to fill out their legal intake form. "Essentially, voters who exercised their right to register to vote at public benefits offices were punished for it through this substantial privacy violation,' ACLU South Dakota Advocacy Manager Samantha Chapman said. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley is appointing legal counsel to represent the Secretary of State's office and the state legislature in case of potential lawsuits. Sarah Raza, The Associated Press
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
It sounds like Ben Johnson has plans for Bears rookie Kyle Monangai
The Chicago Bears have high hopes for their offense this season with the arrival of head coach Ben Johnson and improvements along the offensive line. While quarterback Caleb Williams' development is key, he won't be able to thrive without a strong running game. D'Andre Swift was brought in as a free agent ahead of last season, but he hasn't been as productive as they hoped coming in. Roschon Johnson, who the Bears selected in the 2023 NFL draft, is a solid back, but he hasn't proven himself to be a number one either. In the 2025 NFL draft, Chicago selected Kyle Monangai in the seventh round to join the running back room. He was seen as the third guy on the depth chart ahead of camp, but that may not be the case as the season progresses. Head coach Ben Johnson seems to have a plan for the rookie. 'I'm very pleased with where he's at,' Johnson said after Family Fest. 'I think he's a guy we're gonna be able to trust this fall.' Does this mean that Johnson doesn't trust Swift or Johnson? Of course not, but it does mean that he plans on using Monangai, perhaps more than anyone thought. Having three running backs contributing isn't necessarily conventional in the NFL, but the Bears could make it work. Nobody has made the case to be the undisputed top running back since coming to Chicago, and Johnson is ready to try to get the most out of every player. When Johnson was the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, he found success with Jared Goff throwing the football. None of it would have worked well, however, with that strong running attack, and they had no problem using more than one running back with the duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. We'll see if he can duplicate it in Chicago, where Monangai could be a contributor. This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: It sounds like Ben Johnson has plans for Bears rookie Kyle Monangai
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Former DOJ Trump ‘loyalty test' prosecutors are planning to run for office and fight back
At this time last year, Ryan Crosswell was hard at work trying to put New York City's mayor in prison on corruption charges while serving as a prosecutor in the Justice Department. But after resigning in protest over the Trump administration's decision to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams and cut back on prosecutions of public corruption cases, he's looking at a switching careers to making laws instead of enforcing them. According to CBS News, Crosswell, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, left the department in February amid the uproar over the dropping of charges against Adams, a move which at the time was framed as a way to enable the mayor to better assist the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts. Four months later, he announced a campaign for the House of Representatives seat for Pennsylvania's seventh district against Republican Ryan Mackenzie, telling the television network: "If you're a Marine and you're a former prosecutor, you are protecting people." Crosswell is just one of a number of ex-federal prosecutors looking to continue public service careers by seeking election to various offices across the United States. The former prosecutors all have one thing in common — they left federal service in the tumultuous opening months of the Trump administration amid what have been described as loyalty tests as a condition of remaining in the government. Erika Evans, the granddaughter of Olympic track-and-field medalist Lee Evans, left the Department of Justice in March on account of the changes made to the Civil Rights Division under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. Dhillon, a longtime GOP activist, has made it a priority to refocus the division away from protecting racial minorities towards pushing back on alleged anti-white discrimination. Evans told CBS she resigned after receiving emails asking for DOJ employees to report colleagues involved in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work that the Trump administration has banned. "We received emails requiring that we report any colleagues doing diversity work in the office. We had 10 to 14 days to report them or we would get in trouble ourselves," Evans said. "That was pretty disgusting." Now, she's looking to resume her public service career as Seattle's elected City Attorney. In a video released by her campaign, she says she'll 'take on Trump' if elected and 'demand the community safety we deserve' from the federal government. She explained how she'd wanted to spend her career in public service but felt she had to leave because of the Trump administration's priorities. "When I realized that that was not going to be possible any longer with the values that the Trump administration was having for the department, I knew I needed to shift,' she said.
