"For the seventy years that legal sports betting was confined to Nevada, most of the action focussed on which teams would win or at least cover the point spread. Las Vegas sportsbooks might have offered a few dozen props for a regular-season game-will a quarterback throw for more than two touchdowns, will a batter hit a home run-but these bets were mostly a sideshow."
"Then, in 2018, when a landmark Supreme Court decision allowed other states to legalize bookmaking, the scope of sports gambling grew exponentially. Online-betting companies such as FanDuel and DraftKings began carving every game into thousands of props, down to the real-time outcome of the next play. This has created a frenetic-and, some say, highly addictive-gambling experience, with many people now exclusively betting on props."
Legalization of sports betting after 2018 expanded wagering far beyond team results to thousands of prop bets on individual plays, player stats, draft order, and awards. Online sportsbooks carved games into granular, real-time betting opportunities that generate large revenues and a highly addictive experience. Players, agents, and representatives possess inside information and offseason knowledge that can be valuable to gamblers and create new avenues to influence outcomes. The proliferation of prop markets increases temptation and practical opportunities for manipulation compared with the historical focus on spreads and winners, heightening risk of wagering-related scandals in professional sports.
Read at The New Yorker
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