Sports betting has grown increasingly popular over the past few years in the gambling world. It is legal across 38 different states as of 2024.
There are also many apps that are easily downloadable on phones which make it convenient to create parlays on the go.
Though California is one of 12 states where sports betting is illegal, but you can still use apps like Prize Picks, Sleeper, Betr, etc. These apps however are not considered sports gambling, as they are contemplated as “DFS” (Daily fantasy sites).
People have many mixed feelings about betting on sports, you can lose little to a lot of money or even win big.
Glecer Suasin, a first year student at Delta, uses these DFS’ every week.
“I do use sports betting apps. What made me start betting is that I watch sports, but sometimes it could get a bit boring and betting helped me gain my interest back into watching sports,” said Suasin.
Views for sports have gone up progressively ever since sports betting became legalized in many states in 2018.
Football for example has increased in around 5 million more average viewers every Sunday since 2019, from 16 million to 21 million average views, according to Statista.
But this legalization could result in a bad habit for many who dream to earn hundreds if not thousands of dollars off of gambling.
“I believe that sports betting could be a bad habit for some people because you can get hooked and not know when to stop or to slow down with the bets,” said Suasin.
Another student, Jeremiah Varao, agrees with Suasin’s statement.
“Yeah, sports betting is definitely a bad habit for many because the legalization of betting has affected people to get more involved in sports. Having an effect on people becoming more addicted. People go as far as letting the sport get the best of them wanting to draw blood towards the team and players,” said Varao.
People who have lost parlays due to some players will send death threats to players and even their families, which makes many if not all players uncomfortable and unsafe.
Some people will rely on gambling and DFS’ as a source of income resulting in an increase in anxiety and depression if someone were to lose thousands of dollars.
“I have some friends that put in a lot of money into these kinds of things, some have lost a few thousand and that results in stress and I see them getting anxious, as well as hurting their health from gambling,” said Varao.
