The Dangerous Trend That's Replacing The Stock Market
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There's a lot of trends that scare me. At first it was gibbets and crocks, and now this. A study found that in states where sports betting is legal, net investments decreased by 14%. So for every $1 people bet on sports, their net investment decreased by $2.13. And as someone who wants to help you grow wealth, that hurts me like a rogue pigeon in the direct path of a Randy Johnson fastball. And who's the most susceptible to this terrible trade-off? Impressionable young men.

AKA, duh boys. But today, your boy Chad's gonna get a wake-up call and learn how much damage sports betting is doing to his friends and his financial future. Before we jump in, hit that like and subscribe button and share this video with your friend who thinks he's just one big win away from upgrading out of his mom's basement. Bro, it's gonna be different this time.

Bro, this is guaranteed, bro. Stop. Your mom's spreading PB&J up there while you're focusing on your spread. Get out of the house, Nick. You don't get it, dude. You don't get it. Sports betting used to be something you kind of had to go out of your way to do. People likely had a not-so-friendly neighborhood bookie, or you had to go down to the derby to bet on the ponies. And today, it's easier than accidentally dialing 911 on your Apple Watch.

Just me. It's why I switched. I don't need a digital watch. It's too stressful. I kept calling. All you have to do is download one of the billion sports betting apps on your phone and you're off to the races. I mean, in 2023 alone, Americans wagered almost $120 billion on sports betting. That is billion with a B. And we're not just betting on who will win and by how much anymore. What you're able to bet on can get oddly specific. Just take a look at this guy that lost a $5 bet on which golfer would cross the tee box first. Keep going. Yep, keep going. Yep, keep going. Yep.

You can bet on exactly how many strikeouts a pitcher will have, if a field goal will bounce off the goal post, or if a 350-pound lineman will score a touchdown. All I gotta say, big guys always have the best touchdown dances. Look at him go. He's having such a great time. Let him have his fun. Plus, you can bet before the game, during the game, while you're getting a $15 Frito Pie at halftime, basically at any time at all, which is a great way for companies to monetize the emotional rollercoaster of said game.

In fact, in 2023, sports book companies made almost $11 billion in revenue off Americans alone, which explains why they can afford to have ads and everything everywhere all at once. You see, these companies know that gambling is addictive, that mobile apps are easy to use and addictive, that FOMO is real, and that most people will try something if it's free. So they lure people in by offering hundreds of dollars in free bets. All you have to do is bet five bucks of your own money and they give you $250 in free bets, which sounds almost too good to be true.

Because it is, Nick. Say what? What's that?

There are terms and regulations, fine print. Call me crazy, but typically 1,500 words of fine print is just a sneaky way to say that it is in fact too good to be true. And before you know it, you're hooked. You start using your own money, or worse, taking money from your investments in order to bet more. What's worse is that nearly half of online sports bettors are age 23 to 34, aka most of you watching this channel. We have the data, and we have the meats, because it's mostly guys watching. Where you at, women? You intimidated by how manly I am? Ouchie.

- Ooh, I'm so scared. My dentures are chattering. - And that 23 to 34 age bracket is the prime time for them to start investing because you've got decades of compound growth ahead of you.

And if you're spending money on sports bets rather than investing, you could be losing out on millions of dollars. And I'll prove it. Sports better spend on average 100 to 250 bucks a month. But if instead of sports betting, you put 200 bucks a month toward investing, starting at age 23, it could grow to over $2 million by age 65. And let's say you did fall for the sports betting trap and spent 11 years throwing your money into that dumpster fire.

Well, if you didn't start investing that $200 until you're 34, it would only grow to just over $600,000. Which, if my math is correct, is a sad fraction of $2 million. And even though that sucks, that's not even the biggest problem with this chunk. It's that the people who can least afford it are the ones getting the most hurt by it. Here's what I mean. One in five Americans say they've bet on sports in the last year, but that number does not change based on income. So low and middle income earners bet at nearly the same rate as high income earners.

The difference is that when a high income earner loses $100 on a game, it's a drop in the bucket. But if you're paycheck to paycheck, that $100 might be what you needed to keep the lights on that month. And one study even found that in states where sports betting has been legalized, it had a disproportionately negative impact on financially vulnerable households. They also found that the total credit card debt went up, the probability of maxing out credit cards went up, and the number of overdrafts increased by 24%. And I know there are some crazy stories out there about people winning big.

Like that guy who bet five bucks and won $72,000. But listen, that's not gonna be you, Nick, okay? You don't know that. You don't know that.

And just so you know, the bookies who figure out the odds are super intelligent people who do this like professionally, as in for a living. You can't beat them in the long run, so don't waste your time trying. As the saying goes, the house always wins. And if you think you can outsmart the house, you've already lost. So do I hate sports betting? Is it evil? No. I just hate that it's getting people more addicted to gambling, making the middle class broke and the lower class even more broke. And I hate that people are wasting countless hours a week on this stuff, even if they do win a couple of bucks every so often.

Because think about it. Was all that effort and research it took to win and all the times you lost really worth that net 40 bucks you made? Plus, you can't guarantee you'll win again, and you'll likely go broke trying. But despite what I hate about sports betting, I'm not telling you to never do it. Cue the shock and awe. Right on cue. Perfect timing, guys. And before I get into my reasoning, imagine my shock and awe that some of you haven't switched to Tello yet. Tello is a great way to save money on your cell phone.

We'll be right back.

So go check it out and you'll get five bucks off your first month of unlimited everything by going to tello.com slash George or by clicking the link in the description below. You never know what's going to happen in a sports game and you also never know who's going to be out there waiting to buy your personal information. And Delete.me, another sponsor of today's episode, works to delete your info from thousands of these data broker websites. So while you're cheering for your sports team, Delete.me is in the background running defense. They've already saved me 55 hours of work it would have taken me to do all that work myself.

and they send you a report showing you exactly what they've removed and where. So head over to joindeleteme.com/george and you'll get 20% off their plans and you can start protecting your online privacy today. I'll also drop a link in the description below. So while I wouldn't throw money at sports betting myself, I'm not mad at your version of fun. But if you're gonna do it, do it responsibly.

Here's the guidelines. Before you even think about sports betting, you should be out of debt, have a three to six month emergency fund, and you should already be investing 15% into your retirement accounts. Second, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever go into debt for a bet. One study found that over half of people wound up in credit card debt because they used their credit cards to deposit money into their sports book accounts. And that means they were losing money

to interest so that they could later lose a bet. You may have heard of insult to injury. Well, this is like insult to injury and then setting that injury on fire and wondering what went wrong. Well, I never thought of it that way. Next up, if you're gonna bet, budget for it. Yeah, I'm serious. If it's money you plan on spending, then it needs a home in your budget. So in your budget, have a line item for fun money or sports betting, but also consider what else this money could be spent on that's maybe more fun, like something that doesn't end up with you losing.

Is that even possible? On top of that, don't let your love for your team cloud your judgment. Even if your team isn't great, it's tough to bet against them. I think that's against the law in certain states. All that emotion and loyalty mixed with your dollars is dangerous. And your odds of making serious money through sports betting is seriously low. It takes a huge bankroll and you'd have to bet hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to see real money from it. So last tip, why don't you let your love of sports be just that?

a love for sports and not your next get-rich-quick scheme. That way, when your team blows a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl, you're just sad that you're a Falcons fan, but not that you can't afford your bills or invest in your future. Because sports betting and gambling is not your ticket to wealth. And when it comes to building wealth, you'd be a lot better off leaning on one of the greatest wealth builders of all time, Consistent Investing.

It's not overly complicated, it's too boring to be addictive, and it's easy to get started. So if you wanna know the right way to build wealth, keep watching this next video or click the link in the description below. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Sprouts, go Sprouts!