Technology for Good?
How can we use technology to protect gamblers and athletes
Speed Read (Get the headlines here, and read on below)
Georgia doesn’t allow sports gambling in the state and Augusta National does not allow phones on its ground. This could be a confounding combination for gamblers, but through Kalshi and other online platforms attendees at the Masters Tournament this week will be able to bet on golfers before they walk in to Augusta National.
You might think this post is about Kalshi, Robinhood, Crypto.com and others getting around Georgia’s lack of state regulated sports gambling but its not— keep reading!
The major sports leagues are pushing spectators to do more and more on their phones to increase engagement. Can the Masters extreme approach be a control group of sorts to learn how to improve athlete and fan security at games?
Teams are pouring billions of dollars into building and renovating stadiums, including new tech infrastructure. Now is the time to invest in technology to prevent abusive gamblers from distorting fair play.
Read on below for all of the details and some opportunities I see for teams, leagues, and tech companies.
The Full Story
The 89th Masters Tournament is coming up this week in Augusta, GA, with the first round teeing off on April 10. That, along with the start of the baseball season is how many sports fans mark the beginning of Spring. The azaleas that line the course seem to without fail be in bloom the first weekend in April every year. This part of the sports calendar also overlaps with increases in sports gambling. Coming on the heels of the NCAA tournament which now expects to see over $3 billion wagered, and the beginning of baseball season the Masters Tournament is situated in a place that will attract sports gamblers in a sport that is known for gambling among players professional and recreational.
But there is one unique thing beyond the flowers that makes the Masters Tournament worth paying attention to and that is the lack of the phones. Augusta National Golf Club opened for play in 1932 and since then it’s known for its privacy, tradition, and enforcing its own rules. One of those rules is a lack of cell phones, something it has banned since at least 1993.
While sports gambling, as you might traditionally think of it, is not legal in Georgia or 11 other states, event futures platforms like Kalshi or sweepstakes platforms like Fliff actively allow “trading” of contracts or placing bets on sporting contests in all 50 states. Normally you would think that with the Kalshi’s of the world operating nationwide that a golf tournament like the Masters would be a hotbed of activity. But with the cellphone ban it presents an interesting thought experiment. How might technological innovation limitations affect sports gambling, gamblers, and the risks we are seeing from a general increase in gambling activity?
Unlike at the Masters most other sports venues want fans to have their phones on them. Teams are actively pushing fans to use their phones for their tickets, to order and buy concessions or merchandise, to take photos and videos and upload them to social media, and to gamble on their players as the game unfolds. As most teams see it, driving fan engagement is good for business as it keeps fans invested, keeps them coming back, and keeps them spending money on their product.
While the Masters is an outlier, how can we look at its approach along with the changing technology landscape and the push for in-game gambling to see some risks for sports venues along with opportunities to mitigate that risk and improve fan safety?
Almost $6 billion in construction for both new and renovated stadiums is scheduled to finish in this calendar year. While most of the public focus will likely be on things like plush new suites, immersive fan experiences, or more bathrooms, a decent chunk of that cost will likely go towards infrastructure. Stadiums are now like small smart cities and they need cutting edge technology to run. If you want your fans to be able to use digital tickets or gamble from their seats you need to invest in things like a private 5g network or upgraded Wi-Fi. And if you are connected to the stadium or arena’s network it opens up a whole host of opportunities for the stadium operator to identify, limit, or restrict usage of certain individuals. From the perspective of gambling it means that in concert with data from gambling platforms, a stadium operator can likely identify if you are gambling on a game from inside the arena and then compare it with your gambling patterns outside the arena to identify problem gamblers. It could also use these patterns to identify addicted gamblers who may need help.
But this all requires better coordination among teams, leagues, and betting platforms. If all of these stakeholders were better about sharing information on gamblers across sports, teams could identify gamblers with a history of trying to distort betting markets as soon as they connect to the network either inside or outside the stadium. This sort of geo-fencing or geolocation is used now by betting platforms to ensure that regulatory rules are being followed but it could certainly be used to keep their sports safe from gamblers trying to distort fair play.
This all might sound a little too sci-fi, or a little too intrusive. But according to a recent study by Boldyn, a company that builds these sorts of private networks, a sizeable majority of event-goers want this sort of hyper connectivity whether for the convenience of ordering food, having augmented reality experiences, or posting to social media while at an event. We are at a point with technology now that many people understand the tradeoffs between accessibility and surveillance. So, if teams are going to access new revenue streams from gambling partners and upgraded technology, why not use that technology to also ensure that gambling does not distort their sport or put their athletes at risk.
Other sports don’t need to go the way of the Masters and ban phones or even ban gambling during games. There is obviously a balance between the two extremes, but fans manage to roam the grounds at Augusta National without their phones and enjoy the experience. In their sticking to tradition, they are perhaps showing a way forward for other parts of the sports world to use existing technology to keep us all safer.
If you are looking for help understanding emerging threats related to gambling or other industries, how the government (especially Congress) works, writing content or more I have a consultancy and I’d love to help you. I work with clients in a variety of sectors and look forward to working with you. Please reach out to discuss any of your issues at WeinStrategyLab@pm.me.
There is alot to think about in this post. Worth taking the time to read it and be informed.