Podcast Summary: Apple News Today

Episode: "The dirty secret behind the hobby costing young men thousands of dollars"

Host: Shumita Basu
Guest: Jonathan D. Cohen, Author of Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
Date: October 18, 2025

Overview

This episode explores the meteoric rise of legal sports betting in the United States, particularly focusing on its normalization, its impact on young men, the seamlessness of betting apps, cultural and economic consequences, and the often-overlooked dangers of gambling addiction. Shumita Basu is joined by Jonathan D. Cohen, who draws on his extensive research to unpack the "dirty secret" behind sports betting — namely, how the industry is engineered for continuous engagement, how regulation is failing to protect vulnerable groups, and how the cultural attitude toward gambling is rapidly shifting.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Boom of Legal Sports Betting

• Explosion Post-2018: Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal ban in 2018, sports betting became legal in 39 states and D.C., skyrocketing from $4 billion in legal bets in 2018 to nearly $150 billion in 2024.
  • "49% of American men between the ages of 18 through 49 have a sports betting account. 70% of people living on college campuses bet at least once a year." (Jonathan, [01:44])
• Mobile Ubiquity: App-based betting has fundamentally transformed accessibility, making sports gambling seamless and frictionless.

The User Experience: Frictionless and Addictive

• Comparison to Social Media & Online Shopping: Apps are designed for engagement — endless options, real-time updates, social pressure, and "buy with one click" impulsivity to hook users.
  • "The word to describe it is frictionless. In the same way that like social media, like TikTok is just sort of like smooth brain dopamine delivery, the Sportsbooks apps are designed to do the same thing." (Jonathan, [02:44])
• Casino Tactics in Your Pocket: Apps continuously update odds and encourage in-game betting, fostering near-constant user engagement like traditional casinos but optimized for digital consumption.

The Legislative and Business Landscape

• Role of the Gambling Lobby: Gambling companies had a direct hand in crafting state legislation and regulation, ensuring online and app-based betting was permitted with minimal friction.
  • "Gambling companies sit in the room with lawmakers... helping to craft the bill and the licensure process and the tax rates and so on." (Jonathan, [06:12])
• Lawmakers’ Motivation: States see gambling as easy revenue, especially appealing during tough economic times, though for most, gambling revenue is a "drop in the bucket" compared to overall budgets.
  • "Lawmakers in the United States or in America have always seen gambling as free money, as a endless well of tax free revenue..." (Jonathan, [07:20])

The Sports Leagues’ About-face

• From Adversaries to Partners: Sports leagues formerly fought legalization over integrity concerns, then quickly changed position and embraced gambling for its financial upside and potential to increase fan engagement.
  • "The leagues, when gambling is illegal, have to say that they don't like legal gambling, but then the second it can be legal, they... sort of go all in on it because of the money to be made." (Jonathan, [08:09])

Addiction, Personal Costs, and Public Health

• A Cautionary Tale: Kyle’s Story: Highlights a young man’s descent into severe gambling addiction only after betting became available on his phone — not when he attended casinos.
  • "He had been to a casino many times...and never had a problem... It was only when it arrived on his phone... that's when he ran into trouble." (Jonathan, [12:52])
• Industry's Superficial Response: Betting companies focus on individual responsibility and hotlines but avoid meaningful friction or real barriers to excessive betting.
  • "They don't have any of that friction built in, and they don't want to. The cynical view is that they care about the hotline... only because those people have already lost their money." (Jonathan, [15:29])
• Disproportionate Harm: The vast majority of gambling revenue comes from a small minority of heavy (often addicted) users.
  • "82% of the revenue comes from just 3% of bettors." (Jonathan, [17:11])

Integrity of Sports & Trust

• Impact on Sports Perception: More access to betting is eroding public trust in sports; losses and errors are often attributed to "fixing" or gambling influence.
  • "If you go on social media right now... Every single comment's like, 'oh, FanDuel got to him. Oh, this guy cost me my parlay'... it has made people lose faith that sports are on the up and up." (Jonathan, [15:44])

Professional Gamblers and the Business Model

• How the House Stays Winning: Apps aggressively limit or ban users who show sustained profits, protecting themselves from skilled gamblers. Advertising emphasizes big wins but the system is engineered so "normies" and addicts lose most.
  • "The second they realize that John is good at betting... they will limit how much you can gamble, potentially down to like 10 cents." (Jonathan, [18:43])
• Arbitrage and "Professional" Play: Professional gambling profits rely on minor statistical edges and arbitrage across platforms, not on lucky streaks or superior sports knowledge.
  • "Professional gamblers... would kill to win, like, 60% of their bets... Basically through arbitrage, buying low, selling high across different sports books and sort of guarantee themselves a profit." (Jonathan, [20:57])

Regulation and the Future

• Safeguards Are Lax: Existing regulations are minimal and poorly enforced. There is little political appetite for strong limits, as states benefit from gambling revenue.
  • "Restrictions on... responsible provision of gambling, it's actually sort of very, very few restrictions." (Jonathan, [23:16])
• Potential for Federal Action: Some bills seek stronger national standards but face steep political hurdles and heavy industry lobbying.
• Cultural Shift: Gamblification & Gamification: Gambling mentality is spreading into other domains: stocks (e.g., Robinhood), crypto, and even video games — normalizing gambling-like behaviors among the young.
  • "There's absolutely sort of this explosion of gambling culture and a gambling mentality that has flowered recently... and is now just everywhere. And we just accept it." (Jonathan, [25:10])

Predictions for the Next Decade

• Normalization: Sports betting may soon be as unremarkable — and as ignored by policymakers — as the state lottery.

• Expansion Into New Frontiers: As major states like Texas and California legalize, the market will grow. The industry is pivoting to "iGaming" (casino-style games) and "prediction markets" where users can bet on virtually anything (weather, celebrity, economics, etc.).

  • "There's a chance, like, you ain't seen nothing yet and that this is only gonna get bigger." (Jonathan, [27:16])
  • "That's like...one of the slogans for one of the companies: 'bet on everything'." (Jonathan, [28:35])

• Broader Societal Effects: A generation may emerge more invested in gambling than sports fandom itself — reflecting broader trends of needing to extract value from every hobby or interest.

  • "It's not enough anymore to like sports. It's not even enough to like, like Taylor Swift. You have to somehow leverage your knowledge...to make money off of them." (Jonathan, [29:51])

Memorable Quotes and Moments

• On App Design:
  "It is designed to give you a basically endless menu of options such that you can bet on the outcome of a game while you're watching a game. You can bet on who is going to score the next point... because the whole point, just like a social media app, is continuous engagement with the product." (Jonathan, [02:44])

• On Gambling Addiction as a “Landmine”:
  "He describes gambling as like a landmine that's...lying in front of young men these days, and they never know when they might step on it by accident." (Jonathan, [12:52])

• On Regulation and Harm:
  "States have a direct financial interest in more people gambling more money and might not want to...kill the goose that is laying semi-golden eggs for them." (Jonathan, [23:16])

• On Gamblification of Everything:
  "There's absolutely sort of this explosion of gambling culture and a gambling mentality that has flowered recently...and is now just everywhere. And we just accept it." (Jonathan, [25:10])

• On the Future:
  "My fear...is that you're not creating sort of a generation of sports fans who like to gamble. You're creating like a generation of gamblers who...might as well be gambling on...anything." (Jonathan, [25:54])

Noteworthy Segment Timestamps

• [00:04] Opening; October as a sports and betting highpoint.
• [01:10] Legalization explosion post-2018: Numbers surge.
• [02:44] "Frictionless" betting & dopamine comparisons.
• [05:05] How rapid legalization happened; gambling lobby’s involvement.
• [07:20] Why lawmakers embrace gambling: “free money.”
• [08:09] Sports leagues’ reversal: Integrity vs. profits.
• [11:17] Kyle's story: Addiction enabled by apps.
• [12:52] Why the phone made gambling dangerous for Kyle.
• [15:29] Industry response to gambling addiction: Hotlines, individual responsibility.
• [17:11] Revenue patterns: The vast majority from a small minority.
• [18:43] How companies limit skilled gamblers but not addicted “normies.”
• [23:04] Regulation discussion: Safeguards and shortcomings.
• [25:10] Cultural shift: “Gamblification” of America.
• [27:16] The future: Texas, California, iGaming, and prediction markets.
• [29:51] Gamification and monetization — extracting value from all interests.

Final Thoughts

Jonathan D. Cohen’s conversation with Shumita Basu offers a sobering look at the seductive mechanics and unintended consequences of America’s sports betting boom. Underneath the narratives of fun and harmless entertainment lies a complex web of engineered addiction, regulatory neglect, and cultural normalization — with real financial and psychological costs, particularly for young men. As sports betting integrates deeper into daily life and expands into new domains, the episode warns of a future in which gambling’s risks and drawbacks become an invisible, routine part of American culture.