Almost every tech platform is designed to grab and hold your attention, to keep you clicking, scrolling, and buying for as long as possible.
Sports gambling has become one of the clearest examples of this. The industry has created frictionless apps on your phone that let you bet on everything from March Madness to a pregame coin toss to who wins a minor league British dart tournament.
While betting has become easier — and arguably fun — the cost of these apps is much higher than the money that is won and lost on them.
Today’s guest is Jonathan D. Cohen, author of Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling. He and Sean discuss the rise of sports betting, why the industry targets young men in their advertising, the social costs of frictionless sports gambling, and how the industry could be improved.
50% of men have a sports betting app on their phone, 70% of people who live on university campuses now gamble. I hate the Burger Reich I hate the Burger Reich 
The people I know who gamble on sports watch the games live, whereas the folks who don’t gamble often start an hour or so after the listed time so they can fast-forward through commercials. I expect that gambling makes everyone else’s advertisements more valuable, too - and having people bet on whether or not Giannis makes the next free throw means they’ll submit to the ads they show on half the screen during the goddamn game.