Over/Under An Unexpected History of Sports Betting

The definitive, colorful history of American sports betting that challenges the dialogue around one of our country’s fastest growing (and most controversial) industries. For close to two hundred years, sports gambling in the United States has been a discreet affair. Placing a bet meant a weekend in Vegas or being introduced to somebody’s guy or giving your credit card to a shady website. Then one day in 2018, nine Americans in black robes had a discussion and took a vote. And before you knew it sports gambling was legal—and it was everywhere. So what happens now? In Over/Under, David Bockino sets out to answer that question by borrowing a lesson from the pros. Equipped with decades of historical sports data, the world’s most successful bettors use what has happened in past contests to predict what might happen. When Bockino applies that approach to the sports gambling industry itself, he uncovers a fascinating and unexpected history: betting is not a result of the multi-billion-dollar American sports landscape, but rather is a primary reason for it.