Sports betting is too easy.
As a regular spectator of professional and collegiate sports, it is impossible not to see advertisements for the seemingly infinite number of online apps.
And every commercial is the same — click a few buttons and win big.
After all this time, instead of just believing Lebron James for saying it in a commercial, I decided to do some digging on an app I already had installed on my phone.
I went to Sleeper, an app I’ve used for fantasy football, and went through the motions for “cooking up” a parlay.
Instead of my normal “FANTASY” page, I clicked on the one in the bottom middle of the screen that says “PICKS.” The coin and arrow pointing to the sky is a nice touch.
From the NBA and NHL to UFC and tennis, this app had it all. There was even a place to bet on esports.
I decided to choose three NBA players’ lines and viewed my entry.
The next step was choosing the entry amount and adding any promotions that the site was offering.
Apparently, new users got a $20 free entry, so a winning bet would have turned into $110.20. Lucky me.
After submitting my entry, I was met with a screen saying to get verified.
I went forward with it until they asked for my Social Security Number (SSN) and decided I had gone far enough for my research.
All it took was making my picks, entering my name, date of birth, address, SSN and suddenly I had my first parlay.
It truly was too easy, which makes sense why so many people come back after losing.
And for those who claim that they don’t lose, a quick Google search on the percentage of profitable sports bettors long-term would prove you wrong.
I can’t help but think of the scene in the movie “Moneyball,” where Brad Pitt’s character tells Brent Jennings’ character to explain that playing first base is “not that hard.” Jennings’ character responds by saying that it’s actually “incredibly hard.”
These sports gambling sites constantly advertise how easy it is. Technically, yes, it is easy to bet on sports. The hard part is actually winning, something these sites never talk about.
All of these apps make it easy so that their customers can easily return once they lose, creating a vicious cycle. But because it was so easy to do, losing doesn’t seem too bad.
Maybe I’m just bitter from having to sit through everyone and their grandmother talk about how close their eight-leg parlay was to hitting.
