We’ve Reached the Goonstate of Gambling Advertising
Nazis, Adam Tate, Bonnie Blue and the nadir of attention-grabbing content
BY MINH TRAN
I’ve never been much of a gambler. In 2022, when FanDuel launched in New York and was dishing out promotions too good to be true, I tried signing up, ran into an error while entering my personal information and never signed up again. Aside from the occasional poker night, game of pool or on-the-spot bet on a Knicks game, I’ve managed to steer clear of a pastime that currently seems to be part and parcel of American life.
There’s never been a better time to be a gambler. In the olden days, you used to have to drive to the casino, the racetrack, your local bookie or underground cockfight to risk it for the biscuit. These days, the options are endless and all within palm’s reach. Advancements in technology and how we receive and process information mean you can bet on almost anything without ever leaving your bed. Online sportsbooks like FanDuel, prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, and online casinos like Stake are all vying for your dollars and attention with marketing strategies correlated with how above-board they are. The sportsbooks are the most regulated and normalized, and have found their way into almost all mainstream sports media.