A March Madness pool at the office. Maybe a special trip to Vegas to watch baseball. A Kentucky Derby party. Fantasy football. Gambling on sports was infrequent, often unofficial — small potatoes. 

Then in 2018, the floodgates opened. That’s when the Supreme Court struck down a nationwide ban on sports betting. Since then, 38 states have legalized some kind of gambling on sports. 

As the Super Bowl launches with a silly kicking contest between Eli and Peyton Manning sponsored by the sportsbook FanDuel — which, naturally, you can bet on — viewers are primed to see even more focus on sports betting in the years ahead. 

“Over the course of the last 10 or 15 years it’s slowly progressed to the point where it’s a regular part of our society now,” said Eric Esterline, the director of sports journalism and communication at the University of Florida. “And the technology has made it more accessible to the general public on a regular basis.”

Yet despite the mixture of slapstick farce and glitzy celebrity cameos in the inescapable TV ads for sportsbooks, the rise of these apps has a darker side. The easy access to legal gambling seems to be fueling a rise in addiction, with some addiction therapists reporting receiving more calls for help than ever.

“I’m very worried about the public health impacts of this increase in legalized sports betting. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets any better,” said Jesse Dallery, Ph.D, a professor of psychology at UF and expert on addiction. “Eventually I think there will be some backlash as folks recognize they’re being exploited by these companies.”

Crafted much like slot machines in a casino, sportsbooks apps create the perfect scenario for hacking our brains, Dallery said. Wins are nearly random, which reinforces the desire to bet again in search of the next jackpot. With live betting and quick rewards on every play, the apps provide dozens of quick hits each game. 

And the ubiquitous ads are tailored to reach ever wider groups of people, even those who would never step foot in a Vegas casino.

“Where gambling was a minority interest before, these companies now have to reach the greater American public,” Esterline said. “They want to choose a diverse set of celebrities to reach different audiences. That’s a tactic used by advertising companies to build trust. Having someone like Eli or Peyton Manning or J.B. Smoove means you can relate to different aspects of our culture.”

The other way the apps build rapport is with low-risk, approachable bets. Some apps offer refunds for a new customer’s first bad bet. All of them give people the chance to bet just a few bucks. And prop bets, which let fans bet on easy-to-understand elements like the total score of a game, reel in people who might be unfamiliar with traditional betting. 

Newer apps like Fliff even target those under 21 with free betting sweepstakes. Targeting younger people, especially teens looking for an escape, can set them up for a lifelong relationship with sports betting. “Those youth who are more isolated or lonely are more vulnerable to these kinds of addictive behaviors,” Dallery said.

Even the leagues have a complicated relationship with the ascendant gambling industry they support and benefit from. They rake in cash from official deals with the apps but try to enforce strict anti-gambling rules for their players, to limited success. 

For example, the NFL has already softened its anti-gambling policies. While trying to hold the line on betting on football games, in 2023 they toned down punishments for betting on other sports from inside football facilities and reinstated some players who were suspended for running afoul of earlier rules.

“The NFL does this all the time. They outlawed touchdown celebrations, then completely pulled back on that,” Esterline said. With how widespread sports betting is in society now, they have little hope of reining it in among their players. “I think they’ll stand strong on no betting on the NFL, but the rules will ease back even a little bit further on other events and games.”