Betting apps can make anyone a sports fan. Even me.

<h1>Betting apps can make anyone a sports fan. Even me.</h1> One in five Americans bet on sports this year. I, who have no interest in professional sports, was one of them, contrary to most expectations. And I was hooked.   Open this article in the New York Times Audio app on iOS. The flight attendant told us there was no Wi-Fi. She sounded cheerful and calm. I was not. <a href="https://betsites.ng/">Going on this page</a>, during the three hours and ten minutes from New York to Des Moines, I am unable to check the score of the Cleveland Guardians' game against the San Diego Padres or the Washington Nationals' game against the Seattle Mariners.   For the record, I don't care about baseball. I have no connection or connection to those four teams or cities. But one evening in August, I was betting on that game. <img src="https://www.lines.com/upload/default/xl/GJ3/GJ3mT2uXgqfR.jpg" alt="Live Betting Odds | What is Live Betting: Ultimate Guide - Lines.com" /> A few months after New York joined the ranks of states that allow sports betting from cell phones, I (a 30-something woman with no interest in sports or gambling) was covering sports betting, which is becoming regulated in the United States. I downloaded three major betting apps and experienced the platforms and their <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-think-sports-betting-apps-contribute-to-the-overall-fan-experience-during-major-tournaments">promotions</a>.   Between May and August, I spent two times, 10 days in all, betting. I didn't expect to win thousands of dollars. More than that, I never expected to be on a plane with no Internet, excited and eager to find out what would happen in the top of the ninth inning.   When we touched down on the ground in Des Moines, I launched my FanDuel and DraftKings apps while others reflexively turned to email and Instagram. I made over $260 in transit.   High on this success and celebrating being reconnected, I quickly scrolled through the menu of live games. There was a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox. Using my trusted scientific method, I watched the odds move for a minute before tapping the teams and pic Eventually I found myself sitting in a rental car parking lot at the airport after dark, glued to a live simulation of the game on a betting app. I cheered aloud for every out and hit. I knew the pitcher had thrown the ball, but I wasn't quite sure what had happened, for example.   I waited until the inning was over and began the two-hour drive to the casino in Iowa. On the way, my friends called and let me down: the Red Sox had lost in 10 innings, and some of my money from onlineplaytechcasinos.com.   I was headed to the casino for a meeting of the state gaming commission. I was interested in the recent spate of violations. I was also interested in the fact that mobile betting is illegal in Iowa, but allowed in most other states that have introduced mobile betting.   My colleagues and I covered how sports betting has spread this year since 2018, when a Supreme Court ruling paved the way for states to legalize sports betting. We reported on the industry's lobbying efforts and states' enthusiasm for new forms of tax revenue. We explored the consequences of gambling addiction, the mixed rules governing betting from place to place, and the limited willingness of regulators to punish companies that break them.   According to a Pew Research Center survey, one in five Americans has experienced sports wagering in the past year. According to the trade publication SportsHandle, Americans averaged nearly $8 billion per month in legal sports wagering in the first half of 2022. Some analysts predict this figure will rise to $20 billion per month by 2026. Critics said the industry manipulates people, luring the inexperienced and the weak with celebrity ads and false promises of easy money. Enthusiasts said it brings illegal betting (street bookies, offshore sites, office pools, etc.) into safer, more regulated territory, deepening sports fans' loyalty to their teams and social connections with each other, and boosting sales of merchandise and <a href="https://www.wagerlab.app/">tickets to games</a>.   Companies were spending more than they were making in the race for customers. How attractive were the supposedly risk-free bets?   I asked many bettors that question. But I wasn't just interested in hearing about other people's experiences. I wanted to know, as someone who is cool with sports and various forms of gambling: Would betting affect me in any way?   With my editor's approval, I put up $900 of my own money and became a guinea pig for sports betting.   Making the uninteresting interesting.     <img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/12/25/business/25Gambling-illo/25Gambling-illo-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600-v3.jpg" alt="Betting Apps Can Make Anyone a Sports Fan. Even Me. - The New York Times" />   Credit.The New York Times The registration process took more time than I expected. I shared my Social Security number, linked my checking account, and selected limited marketing alerts. Once the account was opened, placing bets was a bit confusing.   The Caesars app displayed a bland list of games organized by sport. There was a grid of information with numbers listed under different column headings: "Spread," "Moneyline," and "Total Points." Each box constituted a specific bet.   A friend of mine, who is an expert <a href="https://www.sportsbettingdime.com/us/apps/">in sports betting</a>, walked me through the terms and defined the types of bets. Betting," he said, "makes the uninteresting interesting.   Indeed, while I was betting, everything that was not interesting became interesting.   My first official bet was on the underdog in the Champions League final in May. I bet $700 that Real Madrid would beat Liverpool, just because I like Spain.   The size of my wager was not entry-level. But the entry-level promotion I saw in an ad featuring a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" character in an emperor costume gave it a boost: bet up to $1,100 (this four-digit figure fluctuated over the months) and get it back if you lose. It wasn't immediately clear that the payback would be in the form of betting credits rather than cash.   But it didn't matter. My team scored first and I jumped off the couch and screamed screeching. I sent a series of incredible and proud text messages. Real Madrid had held the lead. It was exhilarating.   Within minutes of the game's end, Caesars had deposited $2,520 into my account, making what had been a leisurely afternoon feel very fulfilling.   I had a few more bets to make: $10 on the Indianapolis 500, $12.50 on the Monaco Grand Prix, and $5 on the New York Rangers' goal and the New York Mets' home run. All but one of these bets lost, but my interest was hardly diminished. With a total of $1,600 positive, I was elated.   Over the next few days, I shook off the occasional pop-up alert informing me of the amount of time and money I had spent on the gambling app. New York and most states do not mandate such push notifications, but some companies have introduced them in an attempt to hold them accountable and perhaps stave off mandatory consumer protection.   It was revealed that I was glued to the app for over an hour at a time.   A risk of $1 to $900   Betting has made sports more accessible to me, as one would expect from Major League Baseball, which has entered into a partnership with a betting company. It also put me in a meaningful category for an industry that seeks growth among women and Latinos, as bettors are disproportionately male. On the hit by the Mets' Francisco Lindor, on the performance of the Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper, on the three-point basket disallowed by the Miami Heat's Max Stras in the National Basketball Association's playoff game On the referee's decision regarding a series of rain delays and how he felt it affected the momentum of a team he was confident would <a href="https://www.thilokunkel.com/why-you-should-not-bet-on-your-favorite-team/">score </a>more than nine points.   He prided himself on being agnostic, with no loyalty to the team or the players, and his judgment was rarely clouded by emotion. (For a time, I even covered the game for the sports section of The Times, but my interest was not in the game or the players, but in investigations of corruption and fraud.) I reviewed the statistics and past matchups. There was a scientific feel to the game that was not present in other forms of gambling, and I was drawn to the sense that studying the game might give me an advantage.   But just as much, I embraced irrationality and made picks on a whim.   Neither strategy seemed to work better than the other: 110 wagers on three platforms, 45 wins; profits on all three apps, totaling nearly $3,000; and a total of $3,000 in winnings on all three apps. The smallest wager was $1 and the largest was $900. I often bet $10 at a time.   One of the reasons I was able to break even was the size of the early wins I got from the safety net of free bets and promotions; DraftKings offered me a $200 free bet in $25 installments. Like Caesars, FanDuel insured my initial bet up to $1,000 and bet $900 on the Baltimore Orioles.   However, I also maintained discipline to protect my meaningful winnings and routinely exported them from the gambling site along with my initial deposit. Useful Resources <a href="https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/regional/Newsies-Syosset">Exploring the Legality of Online Gambling at the Canada</a> <a href="https://www.startposts.com/how-to-nba-betting-bankroll-management/">How to NBA Betting Bankroll Management</a>