"Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling" by Danny Funt

An exploration into the perilous world of American sports gambling, journalist Danny Funt interviews the power players of the betting boom at FanDuel, DraftKings, and beyond. He relates the story of ESPN Bet, a failed attempt by the sports giant to compete with the major sports gambling operation. As the first major investigation into America’s sports gambling industry, Everybody Loses describes how fast that professional organizations such as the National Football League and Major League Baseball went from being adamantly opposed to sports gambling spreading outside of Las Vegas to becoming sponsors. The vast amount of money spent by sports gambling firms to attract business and convert skeptics is tabulated in Everybody Loses. FanDuel and DraftKings spent $750 million in 2015—more than the entire beer industry—in advance of the NFL season that year. Thirty-eight states have now legalized sports gambling, said Funt, as the effort to transform a nation of sports fans into a nation of sports gamblers continues to gather momentum. The author said, having seen the problems that the tumultuous rise of sports betting has created, he’s fearful that the problem is likely to soon spiral out of control. On the near horizon is online casino gambling, now allowed in seven states, where gambling interests make even more money than they do through sports betting. Victims of the gambling craze include those who place bets they can't afford, their families, and often the athletes themselves, he said. Funt notes that even lesser-known players are vulnerable, harassed by gamblers who may have lost money if a shot went in at the buzzer, upsetting the spread. Funt, who covers sports betting as a contributor to The Washington Post, said he made a visit to England where legalized gambling has been in place for several decades. Funt came away discouraged at the number of betting shops that allow one to bet on virtually anything that now saturate downtown London. A graduate of Georgetown University and the Columbia Journalism School, Funt also addresses the history of sports betting in this country in his book, going back to the 1919 Black Sox scandal when members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life for their part in “fixing” that year’s World Series.