Only a few weeks after the Justice Department unsealed an indictment alleging a scheme to fix more than 29 NCAA Division I men’s basketball games involving more than 39 players on 17 different teams, Americans are set to dump a record amount on bets on the Super Bowl.
Sure, we’re talking about two different sports — basketball and football. But we’re also talking about one emerging industry — all-encompassing legal sports betting. And while we’re not suggesting Sunday’s outcome will be illegitimate (no evidence we know of suggests that), it’s clear that legal sports betting has taken hold of Americans in an alarmingly bad way and that the industry is doing all it can to keep anyone from ruining that parade.
Record Super Bowl bets
The American Gaming Association predicts a record $1.76 billion will be legally wagered on Super Bowl LX, including bets on the outcome of the game and a myriad other wagers placed on individual athletes’ performances and other minute parts of the contest. This, ESPN reports, would represent a whopping 27% increase over last year’s game.
The Sports Betting Alliance, which works in partnership with the betting industry’s Legal Sports Report, estimates the total to be a more modest $1.71 billion.
That hardly matters for understanding how legalized sports betting, which now includes 39 states and the District of Columbia, has led to a growth in gambling.
In 2014, long before gambling on sports became legal, NBA commissioner Adam Silver wrote an op-ed for The New York Times arguing that illegal gambling was a $400 billion industry and that legalizing and regulating this would protect sports.
A growth industry
How interesting, then, to read a mid-2025 report from the American Gaming Association that estimated illegal gambling (of all kinds, not just sports) was generating $673.6 billion annually.
“Driven by a sharp rise in illegal iGaming, expanding use of unregulated skill machines, and persistent illegal sports betting, the illegal market has grown 22% since AGA’s last report in 2022,” a PR Newswire report by the AGA said.
Silver’s prediction appears to have been wrong. Rather than taming underground gambling, legalizing this vice leads to increases in both legal and illegal wagers.
It also ruins lives.
The Siena College Research Institute published a poll last year that found 22% of Americans, a figure that included 48% of men 18-49, had an account with at least one online sportsbook. A U.S. News poll last July found that 25% of sports bettors reported being unable to pay a bill (in some cases their rent) because of gambling debts, while 30% reported having gambling debts of some kind. Also, 15% said they had taken out personal loans to cover gambling costs, and 52% said they carry a credit card balance from month to month.
These are side effects of this national surge the industry would rather you not see.
The newsletter “Popular Information" this week reported on FEC filings that show two companies, “DraftKings and FanDuel, have already spent millions of dollars on the 2026 midterm elections.” In years past, the industry had focused on donations to state political leaders, but now they appear to be trying to defeat some measures pending in Congress.
Pending legislation
One, the Safe Bet Act, is sponsored by Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y. It would ban gambling ads during live game broadcasts. Just as importantly, it would prohibit online sportsbooks from enticing new customers with “bonus bets” and other lures. Sportsbooks would be prohibited from using AI to track and entice problem gamblers.
Another bill, the GRIT Act, aims to set aside 50% of federal sports excise tax receipts to pay for programs that prevent, treat and research gambling addictions.
Currently, no federal agency is tracking or researching problem gambling in the United States. The GRIT Act would require the secretary of Health and Human Services to make a report, within three years of its passage, on how effective the bill’s efforts had been.
More is needed. Gambling’s record since the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting in 2018 has been abysmal — so much so that Congress ought to retrench and outlaw all such bets nationwide for the nation’s good. If nothing else, recent scandals involving athletes and coaches ought to make this clear.
Surely, Americans could find something better to do with the $1.76 billion they are prepared to toss away this weekend.