By KIM BELLARD
America is crazy about gambling. Once you had to gamble illegally at a bookmaker or drive to Atlantic City or Las Vegas; There are now state lotteries in 45 states – plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Since the Supreme Court struck down PASPA, the federal ban on sports betting, 38 states – plus DC and Puerto Rico – offer legal sports betting. I didn’t think we could get any crazier until I saw last week that arcade chain Dave & Busters would be allowing betting on some of their games.
Honestly, healthcare may be the only industry you can’t bet on, and I’m starting to think that’s a shame.
Dave & Busters is partnering with Lucra Sports, a white label gamification technology company. “We are delighted to be working with Lucra to bring this exciting new gaming platform to our customers,” said Simon Murray, SVP of entertainment and attractions at Dave and Buster’s. “This new partnership offers our loyalty members unparalleled real-time gaming experiences and reinforces our commitment to further enhance our customer experience through innovative, cutting-edge technology.”
“Friendly competition is truly a great fuel for our economy, whether you play golf with your friends on Sundays, or you play pickleball, video games, or even cornhole at a tailgate. There are so many ways to compete with friends and family and I think it’s a huge opportunity to play that and digitize all this offline stuff,” Lucra CEO Dylan Robbins told CNN.
Companies are careful not to label what they do as gambling; You avoid terms like “bet” or “stake”. Michael Madding, chief operating officer of Lucra, said The New York Times that the emphasis was on “skill-based” games such as skee-ball or basket shooting: d participants and is under the control of those participants.”
This falls into a category I had never heard of: “social betting.” With social betting, there is no third party setting the odds and there is more direct competition with people you know. You’re not betting against the house; You challenge your friends. Gambling research firm Eilers & Krejcik estimates it is a $6 billion market, and its proponents argue that, unlike other gambling, it is not subject to licenses and regulations.
Not everyone agrees with this. Marc Edelman, a law professor and director of sports ethics at Baruch College in New York, said NOW:
If two people compete in skee-ball, assuming that nothing unusual happens in the skee-ball game and physical ability actually determines the winner, there is no problem. If I place a bet on whether someone else will win a game of skee-ball or whether someone else will reach a certain score in skee-ball, and I myself am not participating in a physical competition, it would most likely be considered gambling.
Brett Abarbanel, executive director of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, went further: tells CNBC: “Regardless of the legal classification of the activity as ‘not gambling’ or ‘gambling’, it is an activity in which participants risk something of value, the outcome of which is uncertain.” Therefore, consumer protection measures should be in place for players, especially when the The target group is more aimed at younger participants.”
Both Illinois and Ohio gaming regulators have already expressed concerns; Illinois state Rep. Daniel Didech, chairman of the Illinois House Gaming Committee, said CNBC: “It is inappropriate for family-friendly arcades to allow unregulated gambling on their premises. “These companies are simply unable to monitor gambling activities in a safe and responsible manner.”
There are also numerous “social sportsbooks,” including Flitt, PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy, that blur the line between online sports betting and social betting, between fantasy leagues and simple gambling. And they do this with users aged 13 and over and with little or no government oversight. Keith Whyte, chief executive of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said The Washington Post: “A lot of these social games – social casinos, social sports betting – have found that regulators…either don’t feel like they have the jurisdiction or the time or energy to go after every single app that comes along.”
Whether we like it or not, people are going to bet. “People are betting on ‘Are we going to have rain?’ or ‘How much snow will fall in a particular location?’ or ‘What day will it snow for the first time?'” sports policy expert John Holden, JD/PhD, an associate professor at Oklahoma State University, told Fox 5 NY last year.
So why shouldn’t they focus on healthcare?
Let’s face it: We all already rely on healthcare.
We bet that the doctor we select is well trained, competent and meets the highest ethical standards. We bet the hospital we go to won’t kill us or make us worse. We bet that the medications we take do us far more good than harm. We bet on all of these things and spend trillions of dollars even though we know the odds are against us: Overall, Americans are getting sicker and dying younger. These are those other people, we tell ourselves; My doctor/hospital is the “best”.
What sets healthcare apart from other areas one might bet on is the lack of data. I always remember a colleague telling me years ago, “I can know more about the performance of every MLB player than every doctor.” And that was before sports betting was legalized.
If we were to bet on health care – either our own (social betting) or that of others (online gambling) – there would be more data. We would insist. We would analyze it. We would use it. Over time it would get better and more detailed. And I assume that health care would improve as a result.
Personally, I don’t like playing. I don’t buy lottery tickets. I don’t go to casinos. I don’t even bet on the Super Bowl or March Madness. That’s why I’m tired of betting so much on healthcare without knowing more about the risks/rewards, without the data I need and should have. If betting is the only way to ensure the data, then I say let’s roll the dice.
Maybe Lucra could develop a gamification platform where we can bet with our doctors and hospitals.