Gambling and Sport

This entry outlines the current global sports‐betting landscape and traces the history of sports‐betting from ancient to modern times. Horse‐racing has long been a popular gambling format, due to the thrill of watching elite equine talent perform and because of technological advancements such as the pari‐mutuel betting system that allows on‐track spectators to view the money bet on each horse and the grand total in the betting pool in real time. The creation of the “point spread,” extensive television coverage, and sports leagues expanding from coast to coast have all spurred an interest in betting on team sports, which has led to a decline in horse‐race wagering. Both legal and illegal sports‐betting are discussed, along with the dearth of legal sports‐betting outlets in North America. Newer sports‐gambling modes such as online betting via offshore Web sites and daily fantasy sports contests are described, and the entry concludes with a discussion on the possibility of changing sports‐betting laws to make the activity more widely available

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