Episode
Sports Betting
- Podcast
- Easy Prey
- Published
- Jul 8, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2720
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.easyprey.com/331
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Summary
Sports betting is everywhere now. It is in the commercials, on the apps, wrapped into game broadcasts, and sold as a fun way to make sports more exciting. But behind the easy sign-ups and "risk-free" offers is an industry built on odds most people do not fully understand, fine print that can cost real money, and a business model that depends on customers losing. In this episode, I talk with Danny Funt, an investigative reporter and the author of Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling. His reporting on sports betting, politics, news, and sports media has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review, and other publications. Through his work, Danny has taken a close look at how legal sports betting expanded so quickly in the United States and what that boom has meant for everyday customers. I talk with Danny about misleading promotions, why "risk-free" bets are not always what they sound like, and how betting apps encourage people to remember their wins while downplaying their losses. Danny also explains why the customers who actually win can be limited or pushed away, while big spenders who lose heavily may be rewarded with VIP perks and personal attention. This episode is a closer look at the gap between the fun, harmless image of sports betting and the way the industry really works. Show Notes: [01:20] Danny Funt introduces his work as an investigative reporter and explains how his book, Everybody Loses, examines the rapid rise of legal sports betting in America. [03:57] A "risk-free" betting promotion turns out to be much more complicated than it sounds, leaving customers with bonus bets instead of a simple refund. [05:25] The fine print behind bonus bets shows how customers can still lo…