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. Bate draws on original surveys, field interviews, and international case studies to reveal how betting moved from racetracks to smartphones—and how a culture built on self-control began to mistake speed for freedom.
From suburban bars to billion-dollar platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel, The House Always Wins uncovers the moral and economic contradictions of a market built on human weakness and where over 95 percent of participants lose, some catastrophically. Bate argues that the challenge isn’t whether people should gamble, but whether a democracy can manage risk at the speed of an app.
Combining investigative reportage with humane insight, this book exposes the hidden arithmetic behind America’s newest public-health crisis.
| Format |
Häftad |
| Omfång |
312 sidor |
| Språk |
Engelska |
| Förlag |
Post Hill Press |
| Utgivningsdatum |
2026-09-10 |
| ISBN |
9798895652886 |
