I co-run a sports betting syndicate out of Hong Kong, we are not the biggest nor the best but been around long enough to know the industry inside out.
We were talking the other day how little interest for serious professional sports betting there is among young Americans despite compared to their Russian/Greek/Chinese/SE Asian counterparts.
Biggest reason has to be the federal ban on sports betting until 2018 in the US but even after taking that into account seems that stocks and crypto are just on a different level.
I was acquainted with over a dozen pro US sports bettors up until a few years ago and pretty much everyone of them took the stocks/crypto route and quit the sports betting industry at some point.
It's a very specific industry where a profitable model means jack shit if you're not able to place the desired bets for various seasons (illegal state, your account got limited, whatever).
That being said, best agents/brokers/providers are able to place 5 digit bets even on the most absurd sports/events possible.
Basically want to hear what is keeping young, tech savvy and well educated Americans (mostly quants but also similar fields) from earning money on sports betting?
Likewise, if you have any questions or want to partner up on some projects, happy to answer them here or at awoodenbox@proton.me.
Probably their education and financial security? Sports betting is to some degree a predatory business, most people who still have money amidst a recession are smart enough to not bet it all away. Also, sports betting is generally seen as degenerate/a waste of time in most places I've visited, even in the south.
>Basically want to hear what is keeping young, tech savvy and well educated Americans (mostly quants but also similar fields) from earning money on sports betting?
By earning money, do you mean by placing successful bets on sports outcomes? Or by creating websites that enable others to bet, and skim off the top?
Sports betting seems like it subject to all sorts of potential cheating, like point shaving, doping your athletes/horses, etc.. Maybe crypto seems like it is harder to be cheated? Or maybe gambling seems zero-sum, while the ideal of crypto doesn't?