The House Always Wins: The Business, Politics, and Human Cost of Sports Betting

An investigative narrative revealing how smartphones, deregulation, and pandemic isolation turned America’s pastime into its newest addiction.

The House Always Wins traces the rise of legal sports betting from a fringe hobby to a $120-billion-a-year industry, reshaping how Americans watch, wager, and lose. Economist and health policy analyst Roger Bate explores how pandemic isolation, relentless digital marketing, and permissive state policy created a perfect storm of opportunity and risk. B...