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State of Play’s TL;DR
- Atlantic writer McKay Coppins told UVU students the fast-growing sports betting industry is targeting young men with highly addictive products.
- He stressed that sportsbooks are built to win.
McKay Coppins told Utah Valley University students on Sept. 24 that the fast-growing US sports betting industry is still in a “wild west stage” and poses particular risks for young men.
Speaking at a forum in Orem, Utah, the Atlantic staff writer said the scale and accessibility of legal sports wagering have surged since the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision that cleared the way for state legalization. According to figures cited in the Daily Herald report, legal American sports wagering rose from about $4.9 billion in 2017 to at least $160 billion last year, with betting legalized in 39 states and widely available on smartphones.
Coppins said that combination has created a powerful and potentially harmful environment for younger users.
“We have an entire generation of young men who are coming of age in this environment where we’re kind of in this wild west stage of the industry.”
Coppins detailed his own betting losses
The writer told students he spent $10,000 supplied by his employer on sports bets during the 2025 NFL season as part of a journalism experiment.
He said he lost $9,891.
Coppins also described the emotional pull of betting after repeated losses.
“There’s actually a term the gamblers use to describe this emotional state that I was in. They call it being on tilt.”
After the experiment, Coppins placed himself on Virginia’s self-exclusion form for five years.
“I knew how the trick worked, and I still wanted to keep gambling.”
Coppins estimated that 3% to 5% of gamblers become fully addicted, though he suggested the real figure may be higher.
The sportsbook edge
Coppins’ warning to students centered not just on addiction risk but on how sportsbooks are built to win. He said sportsbooks take roughly 4.5% of every bet, meaning a bettor who wins 50% of wagers still does not break even.
Coppins said operators also use algorithms, behavioral data, and betting limits to protect themselves from losses.
“If you’re going to gamble, you should understand the game that you’re playing. You’re not just betting against Georgia or Alabama or BYU.”
The article also cited a BYU Wheatley study on public perceptions of betting risk. In that research, 77% of respondents said betting is risky and can lead to losses, but only 48% said they would lose money if they gambled for an hour.
Coppins told the Daily Herald that “all the data that we have suggests that young men are the most vulnerable demographic” in the current gambling boom. He added that even if regulation improves, “millions of young men got hooked on these apps before there was very much regulation.”
Based on reporting by Jacon Nielson for the Daily Herald.
