The Bettor's Market
#114: Pricing the Kamala Arb, and a wild week in markets.
Bettor’s Market
For better or worse, over the past several years — I’ll call it five — Americans have found a lust for gambling. In search of a thrill and a buck, we have embraced zero sum games with binary outcomes. The faster the action, the better.
Since May 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which had effectively outlawed sports betting outside of Nevada, our entire sporting culture has been transformed. Just a few years ago, even passing mentions of betting odds or game lines on network sports were verboten. Today, pundits make pregame picks as live-betting odds slide across the crawler. The total volume of legal sports bets in the U.S. has grown from $4.6 billion in 2018 to $121.1 billion in 20231, as 34 states now condone the practice.
No surprise, the deluge of commercials for sportsbooks offering $1,000 of “free bets” has slowly given way to PSAs with gambling help hotlines. Always bet responsibly!