CHICAGO — It’s an hour before a recent Cubs game, I’m at the new DraftKings sportsbook outside Wrigley Field and there are real sharp objects in the window.
Dangerous players. Lousy guys.
One of them finishes his turn and turns around, dizzy with impatience:
“Nico Hoerner hit a home run, +1300,” he said with a laugh.
A high roller then places a $15 bet on the Cubs moneyline, a whopping $5 on Cody Bellinger’s total bases, and $20 on something I couldn’t figure out. He must be betting for a union.
As it turned out, Hoerner didn’t hit a home run, Bellinger didn’t record a walk, but the Cubs won 9-7. I guess more people at Wrigley Field wasted money on beer bats than on bad bets.
Is Chicago’s first retail sportsbook a sign of the gambling apocalypse where once-prosperous members of society find themselves penniless on the side of the road, asking for money to set up a bet on the same game? Or is this all simply the result of a common vice that has been legalized, taxed, and made public, so that it is more visible in our faces?
I write and speak a lot about the past, present and future of sports gambling, and from time to time I like to look back on Charles D’Ambrosio’s Story “Winning” about his uncle’s bar in Chicago and the gamblers who lived there. D’Ambrosio realized that these were the kind of failures that only felt alive when they lost a bet.
“Now, when I think about it,” writes D’Ambrosio, “I understand that it was never so much the earning potential that motivated players like George, these men who had nothing, but the fact of being awakened in a world where loss was possible again. . …As long as you could fall further, you stood apart from the dead. Loss restored possibility, but hopeless possibility.
This is true for some degenerates, the true lost causes. But for casual punters, like the guys I heard at the window, I think the attraction lies more in the idea of being right for a fleeting moment in their lives, the validation of being seen as ” lucky” and being part of a community. Sure, it’s a community of people who are mostly losing money, but it’s still a community.
For all the complaints about the explosion of sports betting – like marijuana, an already popular vice that has now been radically mainstreamed by legalization across the country – ruining sports, I hope these small bets are more common among the new players than life-ruining bets. those.
I worry about high school and college students who don’t have their own money or the awareness of failure that comes with old age, but the same can be said for nicotine pouches, vaping, and, of course, e-cigarettes. drugs and alcohol. . Some vices never really change.
While many of my colleagues have rightly pointed out the social ills of sports betting, the financial dangers it presents, and its contribution to the rise of trash talk toward athletes, sometimes you have to admit that it’s just fun to get a little action on a game you’re already watching.
Look, gambling is a vice. It’s not good for you, but all in moderation, right? Which, of course, we do so well in America. Don’t expect to win.
The growing importance of the smartphone in our daily lives is inescapable, but it doesn’t exactly do wonders for our restraint, so in-person betting is a more acceptable alternative. This sacrifices convenience for forced discipline. You’ll make fewer bets (in-play betting is a cash cow), you’ll pay out in cash, and you’ll be more likely to keep the money you win (if you win) than if it stayed in. an account.
Since legalized gambling is here to stay, we need more regulatory limits, including banning incidental betting for college athletes (which some states already do) and limiting it for pros. Even the most hard-core gamers would welcome tighter control when it comes to marketing. We’re all tired of ads, especially the ones that tell you to bet on betting. (I’m looking at you, sports radio hosts.) The commercials playing during RSN broadcasts aren’t exactly smooth. (Athleticism has a partnership with BetMGM.)
But at least the average punter is no longer forced to use sketchy offshore websites.
I was there at Rivers Casino when sports betting launched in Illinois in 2020, just as the pandemic shook the world. Four years later, I was at the official DraftKings book opening, with former Bears lineman Kyle Long placing a celebratory first bet.
The 2,200-square-foot structure opened last season as a bar/restaurant. It took another year for a sports betting license to be approved by the Illinois Gaming Board. The regulatory process is thorough, from background checks to security requirements to the usual dotted i’s and crossed t’s. But DraftKings felt it was important for its brand to make this investment.
“Sports betting is inherently a social activity, whether it’s calling at home on the couch or at a bar with friends,” said Stephen Miraglia, senior director of communications at DraftKings. “It’s just another way to engage with consumers in such an iconic location, or near an iconic location, while still allowing customers (to experience) the brand outside of their mobile device. “
As a reward for their presence, they handed out hats and foam fingers.
If you’re wondering if the Cubs can make money off of underdogs, the answer is: not quite.
In the fall of 2021, the Cubs signed a 10-year, $100 million partnership to make DraftKings their official daily fantasy and sports betting partner. They don’t get a cut of the action, they just charge rent and earn a little from the food and alcohol, run by concessionaire Levy Restaurants.
The Cubs also have a TV and radio marketing deal with Las Vegas-based Circa Resort & Casinos, which has a casino in far north Waukegan, Illinois. Cubs fans are potential brands, I mean customers.
If that’s not your thing, you can avoid it at Wrigley Field if you’re not interested. It should also be noted that there are no entry and exit privileges between the park and the sportsbook during games.
The Wrigley DraftKings is the company’s second physical location. The first opened at TPC Scottsdale, the golf course famous for the watery Waste Management Open. (I went there over spring break and highly recommend it.) The one at Wrigley is the only retail sportsbook in Chicago (the others are at suburban casinos) and it looks like it will stay that way for some time.
While DraftKings and FanDuel fight for your money and attention — they’re the top two in terms of market share — they’re taking different approaches in Chicago.
I was recently at the United Center and went into the FanDuel lounge on the 100 level to see if betting was open there as well. That wasn’t the case and the people working there didn’t really know what was going on. I later found out that the company canceled its United Center license application last year.
“We found our biggest customers wanted the flexibility of a living room, not a sportsbook, with no age restrictions for watching games,” said Chris Jones, FanDuel vice president of communications. “Working with UC as a partner in their building, we want to give customers what they want.”
The FanDuel Lounge TV wall is especially popular on NFL Sundays and during events like the NCAA Tournament. Fans can bring children into the lounge, which would not be allowed if there was gambling.
From what I’ve been told, that’s not the only reason FanDuel and the United Center withdrew their application. It also didn’t make sense to spend the money and time to obtain the license (which must be renewed every year), given that an arena sportsbook would not be open to the public on days where there is no match.
The state license for a sportsbook is $10 million, and then there’s all the money you have to invest in it, including high-definition cameras like the ones that helped arrest Bert Neff at a BetMGM sportsbook in Ohio.
As of now, there do not appear to be any pressing plans to set up a sports betting site at Guaranteed Rate Field or Soldier Field, although the White Sox and Bears both have sports betting partnerships. Licenses are granted to stadium owners, not teams, and both buildings are owned by the government. And of course, both teams are more focused on moving from their current homes.
In Ohio, the state lottery runs a sports betting operation, which has opened it up to bars, restaurants and gas stations. I wouldn’t be surprised if Illinois follows suit one day.
Hey, one thing you can’t argue about sports betting: It’s less wasteful than playing the lottery.
(Photo of DraftKings sportsbook bettors at Wrigley Field: Jon Greenberg / Athleticism)