When people bet money on things like dares, it is usually just for fun. Usually. But for a lot of people, it is a thrill to let fate decide the most obscure things when they have money on the line. This thrill is a luxury. Very quickly, betting has become a pastime exclusive for privileged people who can afford to wager on the destiny of others.
Before 2018, sports gambling was illegal in almost every US state, but now fantasy football season has become just as anticipated as football season itself. A fifth of adults 18 and older play fantasy sports with a near 30 million people playing fantasy football. Fantasy football participants make up 79 percent of people who partake in fantasy sports in general. It is a huge deal, and everyone involved proves how dedicated people are to their “teams”. Even in sports betting, those who take their parlays too seriously start watching the same sports they once enjoyed, uncomfortably on the edges of their seats because of how much money they spend on a single game.
At the end of each season the lowest performing member in each fantasy league is often given a punishment. These punishments can go as far as spending 24 hours in an IHOP and eating a pancake every hour, or commonly getting a bad haircut or tattoo. With these punishments, fantasy betting may seem mostly harmless, but legalizing sports gambling has opened an alarming can of worms in the betting world.
Being able to bet means putting faith in something you have little to no control over. In these terms, putting a bet down is having hope in something that seems impossible, and the money to spend on this impossible thing. The people making these bets are in a position to spend outrageous amounts of money. This suggests that they are already in a position of control and continue to bet with the idea that they would have more power. This power comes from accurately predicting the future which continues to boost confidence and keep them in control as they become more power hungry.
Popular betting site Kalshi has bets open for just about anything, most notably, bets on who was going to win the presidential race this election season. Outside of Times Square there was a live feed of all of the bets that were placed, some being as high as ten thousand dollars. While some may say they have an influence on the outcome, spending thousands on something you get one vote on is a big risk. Nonetheless, people who bet on things like the election are proving they are willing to waste money.
Kalshi is also home to even more arbitrary bets, such as ranking Oscar winners, with $25,000 already spent on predicting who will win the best supporting actress Oscar—all before nominations are even out. This makes things even more risky because not only are you betting, but betting with no indication of which way things may go.
Celebrity death pools are another type of bet that has reached a darker level. Sites like Doug Stanhope’s Celebrity Death Pool allow people to wager on which celebrity they think will die next. When people make these bets, they are hoping to get something out of it. In this case, they want a celebrity to die at a certain time. Spending money for personal gain when anyone’s life is at stake shows the extreme lengths people will go for money. It also demonstrates a privilege to blindly gamble on someone’s life whilst knowing the consequences and ultimately not caring.
Other bets include betting on what a hurricane name is going to be right before hurricane season. It is concerning to see how hurricanes are being trivialized by making their destruction into a game for unaffected people to play. People place these with a lightheartedness that dismisses the thousands of people that the hurricane they are naming for fun will impact. The money that is spent on these bets could be used to raise more awareness and support for those impacted, but those who are in a financially stable position are more worried about making more money off others’ misfortune.
It is way too easy for people with thousands of dollars to spare casually throw down money on bets because it will not affect them. The “thrill” that they get is some people’s livelihoods and they are in a comfortable enough position to not have to care about it. The plethora of random bets reveals a society that more or less does not care about others. There are so many better things that can be done with money, and better ways to make more money that does not involve praying on someone’s downfall for your own personal gain.
In any type of betting, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of winning and to keep going. People must start thinking deeper about the implications of their bets and take a step back to ask, what are you really gambling on?