Last year, online gaming giants FanDuel and DraftKings pulled in nearly $19 billion in combined revenue. Conservative estimates say they’ll grow another 30% in 2025. Meanwhile, prediction market apps like Kalshi and Polymarket are seeing monthly trading volumes around $7 billion on everything from sports outcomes to elections, policy moves, celebrity drama, and oddball cultural events.
Now, even investment apps like Robinhood are getting in on the action, blending speculation with saving until personal finance and betting feel like the same thing. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say betting has woven itself into the fabric of our culture an insidious development made frictionless by the computer in our pocket.
And let’s be honest: men are eating it up. Whether it’s biology, conditioning, or both, we’re drawn to risk and reward. Seventy percent of men bet on sports, and about half of men 18–49 have an account on one of the big online sportsbooks.
As I write this, I’m lying next to my father in hospice. We’re watching the Patriots game. Every few minutes, another ad flashes across the screen urging viewers to make a wager. And I start wondering: when it gets to the end, did we go all in on life? Instead of betting on someone else’s performance, did we place the real bets on ourselves?
That’s the wager that matters.
And the currency I’m thinking about isn’t money, it’s time. Every morning, we wake up with a limited bankroll of hours. How do we spend it? What do we risk it on?
We live in a moment that tempts us to bet our time on rewards from the virtual world. But most of that payoff is hollow. It keeps us engaged but alone flooded with stimulation, starved for connection. We scroll constantly, gambling that this time we’ll feel something real.
I used to assess risk by whether it might leave me unable to eat, land me in jail, or kill me (Yikes!). These days, I define it differently. Now, risk is what might lead me toward joy and contentment (some might say a few of those bets could still kill me 😬).
One of the bets I’m making now is on the power of connecting with other human beings. I’m convinced there’s no more fulfilling play. Not every encounter pays off big, but there’s always some kind of return and that’s pretty good odds.
If I were a “life bookie,” I’d tell you the odds are always better when you engage with the real world, with real people, rather than chasing dopamine hits that pad someone else’s bottom line.
You’ve got one bankroll. What are you betting it on today?
