Game On: How Betting Became the Most Powerful Player in Sports

Break out the bean dip and put on your jersey and face paint; it’s Super Bowl season.  

While thousands of Americans gather for parties to support their favorite team and millions of eyes turn to the big game this weekend, many people will be playing games of their own — some with truly high stakes.  

In recent years, sports betting and gambling platforms like FanDuel, Draft Kings, Fanatics Sportsbook and more have exploded in popularity, in part thanks to the federal ban on sports gambling being lifted in 2018. These apps allow hardcore sports fans and casual viewers alike to put money on the outcomes of anything — from which team will emerge victorious to how many points a particular player will score and even whether or not the game will go into overtime.  

For some, this adds a fun, low-stakes level of engagement with a game. For others, like with any form of gambling, it can lead to financial loss, disappointment and addiction.  

A University of Northern Colorado student who asked to remain anonymous shared his experience falling deeper into the rabbit hole of sports betting over the past few months.  

“I wasn’t betting much at first, and I was mainly doing it because my friends were too. It made games I normally wouldn’t care about a little more exciting — I even made some money on a few of them. Now though, I feel like I’m missing out on potential money if I don’t bet on every game.”  

The student said he felt glued to his phone during games now, becoming overly invested in what otherwise might have been a fun, low-key afternoon of sports watching.  

The Mechanics of Marketing

Koo Yul Kim, Ph.D., assistant professor of Sport Administration in the College of Natural and Health Sciences, has conducted research into the marketing aspects of sports betting platforms, seeking to better understand how they’re able to pull people into the world of sports betting and keep them there.  

“They hook people in with different kinds of welcome offers — aggressive strategies like risk-free bets or $1,000 bonus cash on your first bet,” Kim said. “They want to make getting involved as easy as possible and as non-intimidating as possible for the largest amount of people they can.” 

Kim’s research examined the specific marketing strategies employed by platforms like FanDuel and Draft Kings. Findings indicated that the companies’ marketing was able to target different individuals with different kinds of offers, increasing the likelihood that they’d place their first bet — something that frequently leads to more bets down the line.  

For those who were identified as “prevention-focused,” or those who seek to avoid losses, risk-free bets were an effective engagement strategy. Conversely, for those who were deemed “promotion-focused,” or interested in gains, bonus bet offers were the way to go.  

Once the sports betting platforms have secured someone’s first bet, they don’t stop there, of course. Kim said they do everything they can to keep customers on their specific platform, hoping to deter them from hopping over to another app in search of new welcome offers.  

High-Profile Partnerships

One way apps do this is through partnerships and celebrity tie-ins. Draft Kings, FanDuel and Caesar’s Sportsbook are all official partners of the NFL, lending prestige to their platforms and potentially leading people to bet with them over a non-partnered competitor. 

For an example of a celebrity tie-in, one need look no further than Fanatics Sportsbook’s recent campaign featuring Kendall Jenner. The collab, dubbed “Bet on Kendall,” featured the model and reality-tv star encouraging viewers to place their bets on the team she predicted would win the Super Bowl.  

According to Kim, partnerships like these are focused almost entirely on expanding the betting platforms’ reach to new audiences.  

“When they involve the Kendall Jenners or Kevin Harts of the world in their advertising, they’re directly trying to tap into new demographics,” Kim said. “Who do you think the fans of Kendall Jenner are, mostly? I’d say they’re not people who would usually be inclined to engage in sports betting. But when Kendall Jenner tells you who she thinks is going to win the Super Bowl, some of her fans might want to bet with her.” 

The Cost of Betting

Speaking of specific audiences, both Kim’s research and that of others in the field indicates that college-age individuals are the most at-risk of being sucked into the world of gambling in an unhealthy way.  

“Sports betting advertisements have a substantially higher influence with the 18-22 age group than any other,” Kim said. “With that impact, we’re also seeing a rise in problem gambling symptoms in that age bracket.” 

For those like the anonymous student mentioned earlier in this story, it can be easy to fall into a rhythm of spending money every week — behavior that can potentially spiral into a full-blown gambling addiction. 

“Because people are being so bombarded with ads and marketing promotions for sports betting, I think we will see an escalation in harmful gambling-related behaviors and a more widespread normalization of betting among vulnerable audiences,” Kim said. “It’s an ethical concern that has to be addressed by the sports betting platforms before it gets out of hand.” 

Currently, some apps are implementing deposit limits or capping how much can be bet on a single game, but it remains to be seen whether this will be effective in curbing the spread of unhealthy gambling habits.  

In a 2024 interview with 60 Minutes, Bill Miller, president of the American Gaming Association, said, “I don’t believe that there’s an addiction to mobile betting any more than there is an addiction to utilization of your phone.” 

Despite some research on the topic contradicting that claim, the accessibility of sports betting has continued to grow in recent years, something Kim doesn’t see stopping anytime soon.  

“I don’t think there’s any way it won’t keep growing tremendously,” Kim said. “Interest will continue to rise and marketing will diversify and try to break into new audiences. My opinion is that we’ll see them branch out into college athletics next. We might see a platform become the official partner of Ohio State or Alabama just like they are with the NFL.” 

Looking further into the future, Kim brought up the rise in popularity of speculative, prediction market apps like Kalshi and Robin Hood. These platforms allow users to wager not just on sports, but on nearly every facet of daily life — from tomorrow’s weather to the winner of upcoming elections. 

While sports betting apps are currently only legal in 38 states — plus Washington, DC and Puerto Rico — platforms like Kalshi and Robin Hood aren’t limited under state law. Instead, they’re regulated federally by the Commodity Future Trading Commission, meaning they’re legal in all 50 states. 

While the NFL recently announced that it will ban ads for prediction market applications during the Super Bowl, users can still place bets on sporting events through the apps.

“Sports betting goes hand-in-hand with the rise in popularity of the prediction market — apps like these let people bet on almost anything you can think of,” Kim said. “Pretty much anyone can access them anywhere, so I can’t help but think they will contribute to another explosion in popularity for sports betting, and soon.”