John Arnold is spending $2.6 million to have universities research whether online sports betting might be harmful. This is like funding a study on whether fire is hot or whether retail traders lose money on 0DTE options. We know the answer. The answer has always been yes.
Arnold runs something called Arnold Ventures with his wife Laura. They made their fortune and now they fund research. Noble stuff. Except the research question here is whether gambling on your phone while sitting on the toilet might lead to bad outcomes. Groundbreaking work. Can't wait for the peer-reviewed paper confirming that losing your mortgage payment on a Knicks-Pacers under is suboptimal for household finances.
The online sportsbooks already have this data. They know exactly how harmful their product is. They track every degen who goes from betting $20 a game to betting $2,000 on whether the first penalty will be holding or false start. The apps are designed to make this as frictionless as possible. Now we're going to pay professors to write a 40-page literature review reaching the stunning conclusion that maybe this isn't great.
Here's what the study will find: some people bet too much, lose money they can't afford to lose, and experience negative life consequences. Revolutionary. The universities will host a symposium. Someone will suggest regulatory frameworks. The sportsbooks will issue a statement about responsible gaming. Nothing will change.
Arnold could have just texted me. I would have told him for free: yes, it's harmful. Saved him $2.6 million. But I guess that's not how billionaire philanthropy works. You can't put "gave some guy the obvious answer" on a press release. You need institutional partnerships and academic credibility and a multi-year research timeline.
The real study should be on people who think they have an edge betting player props on a Tuesday night MACtion game, but that demographic can't read.
Photo by Brecht Corbeel on Unsplash
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