Gambling used to come with built-in pauses. A bet placed before kickoff was fixed until the final whistle, three hours later. At the track, there were 25 minutes between races. Betting again meant waiting for the next game or the next race and that wait was a chance to cool off, count losses or walk away. Today there is barely time to think between one bet and the next and the platforms know exactly what to offer.
This week’s Sunday Project looked at how betting has been sped up, broken into pieces and personalized and what that means for the people it hooks.
Bob G, in recovery for more than 16 years, remembers when a football bet was a single decision: give me a thousand on Penn State minus six. Once the game started, you were stuck with it.
Today, a bettor who is five touchdowns down can simply keep betting. Bob estimates there are around 200 betting options in a single game. With 16 NFL games on a Sunday and around 125 plays in each, that adds up to roughly 2,000 chances to bet in one day.
The old schedule had breaks too: morning games then a wait until the afternoon kickoffs. That gap was a chance to stop. In-play betting has removed it.
Speed is the product
The drive for speed didn’t start with smartphones. Texas Hold’em is an early example. Part of its appeal is pace: it’s faster than stud and other traditional poker games, so there are more hands and more decisions every hour.
Horse racing has followed the same path. At the track, a bettor would place a bet, wait 25 minutes, then watch a race lasting about a minute and a half. Now races can be bet on from a phone roughly every two minutes, and each comes with a menu of exotic bets: exactas, quinellas, pick threes, pick sixes. The same speeding up is happening across online gambling.
Is anyone still thinking?
In the past, gamblers at least had a moment to talk to themselves, even if what they told themselves was distorted: I’ve got a system. My lucky socks will do it.
In-play betting raises the question of whether any inner conversation happens at all. Many bettors now give the game perhaps 30% of their attention and the betting app the other 70%, tapping buttons in rapid succession.
For young people who have grown up attached to their phones, the risks don’t simply add up. They multiply.
The algorithm knows what you want
Speed is one change. Personalization is the other.
Recent reports suggest DraftKings staff described using AI to target gamblers, including vulnerable ones. Clinicians see the effect in young clients. One 20-year-old had been gambling for 18 months, borrowing from relatives and considering taking money. His own words were: “This is not me.”
Betting platforms use algorithms that track how and when someone bets, which sports they follow and which bet types they favor, then put exactly those options in front of them. It’s the equivalent of knowing someone’s favorite snack and leaving it within arm’s reach, all day, every day.
From Fans to Customers
Bob calls it a “fan-demic.” Fans have become customers. People used to root for their team. Now they root for their wallet.
Prop bets shift the focus from teams to individuals. A receiver can hit his yardage while his team loses, and the bettor doesn’t care. Prediction markets add another twist, telling users they’re betting against other people rather than the house, and feeding the belief that knowledge gives an edge. That belief helps explain why most young men entering treatment today are sports bettors, not the casino and slot players of the past.
From Fans to Customers
If speed is how the industry keeps people hooked, restoring the pause is where recovery starts.
When the phone goes down, reality returns: the debts, the lies, the things that have been avoided. That moment is hard and it’s also where treatment starts to work. The 20-year-old made his decision: “This stops. I want this to stop.”
As Bob puts it: “Gambling is something to do. Not gambling is also something to do.”
Or, as a well-known recovery saying goes: it’s easier to stay stopped than to stop.
If betting has taken over your time, your money or your head, Stop Betting Sports can help. Join the Sunday Project every week, or reach out at stopbettingsports.com.
Support is available
Stop Betting Sports hosts free weekly support spaces for people affected by gambling – including parents and loved ones.