Sportsbooks, like insurance companies, have one commodity. Money. And the goal is to take as much as possible in, while paying as little as possible out.
For insurance companies, the best way to do that is to find a way to deny as many claims as possible. For sportsbooks, the best way to do it is to ensure that those who bet and lose will keep betting. And losing.
The story, first reported by David Gambacorta of the Philadelphia Inquirer, of Phillies star Bryce Harper recording a personalized video for a gambling addict at the behest of FanDuel is one tangible example of what sportsbooks will do to keep their losers losing.
As reported by Ben Horney of Front Office Sports, a FanDuel employee bought the video through Cameo, presumably with FanDuel money. (Surely, the VIP host didn’t spend her own money on it.)
Harper wasn’t directly paid by FanDuel to make it. In the video, however, Harper specifically referenced the man’s VIP host at FanDuel — which is more than enough for anyone with the most basic understanding of how the business works that anyone with a VIP host didn’t earn that status by repeatedly taking money from the sportsbook in winnings.
The recipient of the video was Terry Thompson, one of two men who sued multiple sportsbooks (including FanDuel and DraftKings) and the NFL over losses incurred through in-game microbetting.
The situation (while troubling) isn’t a surprise, given that legalized (and normalized) gambling remains in its Wild West stage, with everyone involved grabbing as much cash as possible before the regulation inevitably happens.
And regulation is absolutely needed. In many respects. There should be limits regarding the extent to which sportsbook employees can work bettors in an effort to keep them betting. There should be limits to the volume and placement of ads. There should be regulations as to the not-so-subtle suggestions in advertising that you can — and will — win.
Like my dad the bookie told me years ago, “You can’t win.” That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bet. It means that anyone who does it should recognize it for what it is: entertainment.
You won’t get rich. It won’t pay your bills. And if you start chasing losses, you’ll end up in that vague place middle-class-and-below kids like me throughout the country feared while growing up in the ‘70s.
The poorhouse.
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