A March Madness swimming pool at the office. Maybe an unique trip to Vegas to watch baseball. A Kentucky Derby celebration. Fantasy football. Gambling on sports was infrequent, often unofficial - little potatoes.

Then in 2018, the floodgates opened. That's when the Supreme Court overruled an across the country ban on sports wagering. Since then, 38 states have legislated some sort of gambling on sports.

As the Super Bowl launches with a ridiculous kicking between Eli and Peyton Manning sponsored by the sportsbook FanDuel - which, naturally, you can bank on - audiences are primed to see a lot more focus on sports betting in the years ahead.

"Over the course of the last 10 or 15 years it's gradually advanced to the point where it's a regular part of our society now," said Eric Esterline, the director of sports journalism and interaction at the University of Florida. "And the technology has made it more available to the general public regularly."

Yet in spite of the mixture of slapstick farce and flashy star cameos in the inescapable TV ads for sportsbooks, the rise of these apps has a darker side. The easy access to legal betting seems to be sustaining a rise in addiction, with some addiction therapists reporting receiving more calls for assistance than ever.

"I'm extremely anxious about the general public health effects of this boost in legalized sports wagering. I believe it's going to get worse before it gets any better," stated Jesse Dallery, Ph.D, a teacher of psychology at UF and specialist on addiction. "Eventually I think there will be some reaction as folks recognize they're being exploited by these business."

Crafted similar to fruit machine in a casino, sportsbooks apps develop the best scenario for hacking our brains, Dallery said. Wins are almost random, which strengthens the desire to bet again looking for the next prize. With live wagering and quick rewards on every play, the apps provide dozens of fast hits each video game.

And the ubiquitous advertisements are tailored to reach ever broader groups of individuals, even those who would never ever step foot in a Vegas gambling establishment.

"Where gaming was a minority interest in the past, these companies now have to reach the greater American public," Esterline stated. "They wish to choose a diverse set of stars to reach various audiences. That's a strategy used by advertising companies to construct trust. Having somebody like Eli or Peyton Manning or J.B. Smoove implies you can connect to different aspects of our culture."

The other way the apps build rapport is with low-risk, approachable bets. Some apps provide refunds for a new consumer's first bad bet. All of them give individuals the possibility to bet simply a few dollars. And prop bets, which let fans bank on easy-to-understand aspects like the total rating of a video game, attract individuals who might be unfamiliar with standard wagering.

Newer apps like Fliff even target those under 21 with totally free betting sweepstakes. Targeting younger individuals, particularly teens trying to find an escape, can set them up for a long-lasting relationship with sports betting. "Those youth who are more separated or lonesome are more susceptible to these sort of addicting habits," Dallery said.

Even the leagues have a complicated relationship with the ascendant gaming market they support and benefit from. They rake in money from official deals with the apps however try to enforce stringent anti-gambling rules for their gamers, to limited success.

For instance, the NFL has actually already softened its anti-gambling policies. While trying to hold the line on banking on football games, in 2023 they toned down penalties for betting on other sports from inside football centers and renewed some gamers who were suspended for contravening of earlier rules.

"The NFL does this all the time. They banned touchdown events, then entirely pulled back on that," Esterline said. With how extensive sports betting is in society now, they have little hope of reining it in among their players.