Has the legalization of sports betting — along with trading sports contracts — changed the way Americans operate? Has it had an effect on finances, households, mental health, and consumer behavior?
All questions worth asking, and now a billionaire is putting his money behind an effort to find out.
John Arnold, a former energy trader and now philanthropist, and his wife Laura are providing $2.6 million in grants to universities and think tanks to look into what sports betting has — or has not — done to society, per a CNBC report.
Arnold, the co-founder of Arnold Ventures, thinks the speed and ease with which people can now bet has fundamentally changed what sports betting used to be.
“Being able to bet over the phone has dramatically increased access and lowered friction,” Arnold said, according to CNBC. “It has changed what the product is. You can bet on every pitch. You can bet with a speed that was never possible when you had to place a call to put a bet down.”
Arnold, who was a hedge fund owner and Enron energy trader, has previously spent his money on criminal justice reform and higher education improvements. More recently he has turned his eye toward prediction markets and gambling apps, holding sit-downs with legislators and seeking stricter rules and regulations around the fast-growing sector.
The $2.6 million will be directed almost entirely at the gambling apps, as there is more data to parse, according to a spokesperson.
Looking at it all
Per the article, the studies will look at the “causal impact of sports betting legalization” timing in different states.
Among the schools getting the grant money are Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Wisconsin.
“Just a few years ago, most Americans had to travel significant distances to legally gamble on sports. Today, access to gambling has become so widespread that, in most of the country, anyone with a smartphone could effectively have a casino in their pocket,” Justin Milner, Arnold Ventures’ executive vice president of evidence and evaluation, said in a press release. “These research projects will shed light on the impacts of this new reality and help policymakers weigh important decisions about whether to legalize gambling, how to regulate it, and how to effectively reduce harm for their constituents.”
The subjects planned for the studies include:
How people see the likelihood of parlays winning and how they react to near-misses; how wins and losses change a gambler’s betting behavior; chasing losses after near-misses and unexpected outcomes; how sports betting advertising influences consumer behavior; comparing legalized sports betting with credit card delinquency rates; how people’s financial well-being changes when they move to or from a legal sports betting state to one where it is illegal; how sports betting impacts housing and finances among renters; how sports betting affects marriage rates; and if sports betting contributes to a rise in suicide.
