If you are enough of a fan, you can find a sport to watch at any time of the year. Still, right now is a particularly good time for sports, with football season heating up and hockey just getting started. All of this excitement may tempt you to place some bets on what will happen — but is that actually a good idea?

If you have already put money down on a particular team, you are not alone. Now that online sports betting is “legal in 30 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico,” it is estimated that “total monthly wagers have climbed from an average of $1.1 billion per month in 2019 to $14 billion in January 2024,” said NBC News. That’s a big increase.