the b12 deficient

On Gambling

I have come across a few articles on gambling in the past few weeks, and thought I would dump them here.

As per a recent FT article (1), after the 2018 legalisation of sports betting in the US, the industry’s revenues have grown from $0.9 billion to $17 billion. The article then goes on to enumerate the various ways in which gambling is impacting society, from direct consequences such as credit card debts to other second order effects such as increased alcoholism and decreased investment activity. Fun trivia fact – fifty percent of the UK population gambles regularly. That is insane.

There was another article in FT, in February on how the NFL has become such a big thing (2). The article had a throwaway line on how betting could be a reason for the sport’s rapid rise post 2018, which is evident from the viewership graph pasted in the article (a small dip during covid notwithstanding).

I wonder if F1’s surge in popularity in the US is due to the same reason? Of course, the release of Drive to Survive coincides fairly well with the US ruling.

Now, let’s come to Polymarket. I don’t know why something like this can be allowed to exist. Unlike other market mechanisms such as options, derivatives etc., there is no value to this. And obviously, these platforms are awash with crazy levels of insider betting (3). There’s also instances of people betting on events like missile strikes, and then issuing death threats to journalists for reporting on them (4).

One good thing that the Indian govt. did in recent times was to ban fantasy sports apps. Hiding behind the façade of appearing to be skill based, while just being gambling with extra steps. Not to mention how they muddled the definition of online gaming in policy documents to create confusion on purpose.

And finally, I would like to end with my own views on sports. As someone who has been obsessed with multiple sports (watching, not playing) since childhood, I keep thinking about how bad they have been for my emotional wellbeing. I do have a tendency to get over-attached to certain athletes or teams once I start rooting for them. A win tends to bring about relief, but not exaltation. I’m more concerned over Kohli’s performance in the Champions Trophy or the T20 world cup finals than the wins themselves. But many a loss have devastated me. Wimbledon 2019. India’s exit from Cricket knockouts in 2017 and 2019. Kohli and his off-drives. AD21. The last one still gives me tremendous heart ache, don’t know how Lewis got back from this.

But the plus side here is that I have started to detach from these sports once the players retire. I haven’t cared about tennis in a long while. Indian test and t20 cricket just don’t excite me anymore. But now there’s so much fear and trepidation whenever Kohli walks out to bat in an ODI, or whenever Hamilton takes to the wheel. I wonder if this emotional gambling is worth it.

Works Cited

  1. Roeder, Oliver. The cost of America’s sports betting habit. [Online] Financial Times, 16 March 2026. [Cited: 17 March 2026.] https://www.ft.com/content/64bacf9f-bf9e-4190-9fad-97fe3a2ded4d.

  2. Grimes, Christopher. How the NFL became America’s true national pastime. [Online] Financial Times, 07 February 2026. [Cited: 17 March 2026.] https://www.ft.com/content/8656b757-c6ec-40cc-a2d1-a23cb089892d.

  3. Chris Cook, Oliver Hawkins, Eade Hemingway and Stephanie Stacey. Polymarket users won big with unusual bets on US attack on Iran . [Online] Financial Times, 03 Marcch 2026. [Cited: 17 March 2026.] https://www.ft.com/content/2883d3d4-aea2-4984-b994-4640593eed55.

  4. [Online] https://archive.is/qREE5.