How Social Media is Shaping Sports Betting Culture

By Hank Blaine • August 11, 2023

Many states in the U.S. have legalized sports betting. As more states jump on the sports betting bandwagon, one of America’s favorite pastimes will become more mainstream, which means social media platforms will become more of a force. Even today, with some states like California having not yet legalized sports betting, social media is shaping betting culture. Check out the ways social media is affecting the sports betting community.

Top Ways Social Media Platforms Are Shaping Sports Betting Culture

Social media is bringing betting culture from the shadows

Up until 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law that prevented states other than Nevada from legalizing sports betting, the practice had been deemed a shadow enterprise. In other words, sports bettors existed in the shadows and under the radar.

But social media is helping to bring sports betting out of the darkness and into the light. Players now show their betting tickets from brick and mortar sportsbooks and virtual tickets from their online sportsbooks.

Betting culture is becoming an accepted culture

There’s a point in every culture when it becomes accepted. Sports betting culture is becoming more accepted every day. A big part of why is social media.

Organizations like ESPN, which recently signed a deal with Penn Gaming to create an online sportsbook, wouldn’t produce shows devoted to sports betting if there was no social media impact.

CBS Sports, Fox Sports, you name it, all have shows devoted to sports betting. If there was no social impact, shows on sports networks wouldn’t exist. The shows that a company, like ESPN, have created is a sign sports betting culture is now an accepted culture.

Social media has helped turn gambling into investing

There is a key distinction between gambling and investing. Investing is making an educated decision that requires money based on what we call handicapping and determining fair odds or fair payouts.

So in other words, investing is making decisions based on risk versus reward. When we gamble, we’re often having fun. So we can say that gambling is for entertainment purposes, while investing is to turn a profit.

Gambling isn’t a bad thing, but sports betting is more investing than gambling. Pro handicappers who make picks on social media are investing. They aren’t gambling.

By releasing their picks on social media, many pros are helping change the discussions regarding sports betting from gambling to investing.

Social media can turn a casual bettor into a sharp player

In the past, when no social media regarding sports betting wasn’t allowed, the casual player had to search for information and determine their plays based on their handicapping.

Social media provides sharp player picks, which means casual bettors can now make plays that sharp handicappers make.

This can be a good or bad thing, though. So make sure that if you listen to a sharp player, you’ve vetted the sharp player.

Social media has made betting culture more community oriented Ala crypto culture

This might be social media’s most significant impact. Anybody involved in crypto culture understands the idea of community. Bitcoin maximalists are one community. Ethereum’s maximalists are another.

Sports betting used to be a silo thing. We handicapped games, we might have discussed the game with one or two friends, and then we made our bets.

Not anymore. Social media is creating sports betting communities where we can discuss and engage with other sports bettors. Two heads, as the saying goes, are better than one. So the multiple heads involved should help all of us make more winning plays.