In a world where almost everything is on-demand and personalized, sports still make millions of people stop what they’re doing and focus together on one live event.
Sports are transcendent. And as sports fans, this makes our attention incredibly valuable.
There’s never been more eyes on sports. Billionaires are lining up to buy sports franchises. Brands are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into sponsoring teams, leagues, events and athletes.
But have you noticed who some of the biggest sponsors are these days around sports events like the World Cup, the US Open, Major League Baseball, and college football?
Have you noticed which companies are seeking partnerships with the biggest stars in sports, like Lebron, Lionel Messi, and Bryson DeChambeau?
Sportsbooks and betting apps realized something about people like us a long time ago. Sports fans don’t just want to watch the game, we want to be a part of the game. They were right. And things have spiraled out of control.
Americans bet more than $150 billion on sports in 2025. That’s more money than we spent on movies, books, concert tickets, and sports tickets combined. That number should exceed $200 billion in 2026.
Today, betting is everywhere. Parlays. Prop bets. Live bets... You can bet (or “trade” as Kalshi calls it) on just about anything. These apps are promoted by broadcast networks, technology companies, sports media and, increasingly, by the people and personalities surrounding the games themselves.
Just a few weeks ago on September 13th, Kalshi alone reported more than $3 billion in trading volume. In a single day.
It’s time we ask where all of this is headed.
The bet is becoming bigger than the game
In November 2014 the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, wrote an op ed in the New York Times in support of lifting the legislative bans on sports gambling.
“I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated,” Silver wrote.
This op ed was written over a decade ago, and at the time the Boston Celtics President, Danny Ainge, pushed back by saying, “I’ve seen gambling ruin lives and ruin families. I’m just not for it.”
Even recently, controversies emerged regarding NBA personnel allegedly leveraging non-public information or altering game conditions due to sports wagering, Danny wisely stated that “gambling was the single biggest threat to our game.”
Where there’s money, there’s the potential for corruption.
And those concerns don’t feel theoretical anymore. We’ve seen an increase of games being thrown or influenced, millions of dollars lost, arrests and, most devastatingly, suicides. All consequences of turning your picks into a thoughtless, friction-free consumer product.
When every game becomes an opportunity to wager, eventually the wager starts competing with the game itself. A missed free throw isn’t just a missed free throw. It ended someone’s parlay. A player having a bad night pitching didn’t just disappoint a fan, or himself. He cost someone money.
In a recent survey of Division I men’s basketball players, more than a third reported receiving abusive messages from someone with a betting interest in their game. We started by betting on the games we watch. But now, we’re watching those bets change the games we love.
Prediction markets are legalized gambling.
Prediction markets have opened another door. There’s an ongoing legal fight over whether they should be regulated like sportsbooks. But from a fan’s perspective, this isn’t very complicated.
You put money in. You predict what happens in a game. You’re right or you’re wrong. You make money or lose money. Call it a wager. Call it an event contract. Call it a prediction market. Call it a Casino.
And while we keep hearing that regulation is coming, these companies keep finding new games, products and markets to keep people engaged and wagering.
But we’re missing the bigger point.
The fan isn’t the problem. The fan is their product.
Of course sports fans want action. We want to call the next shot. We want to prove we know our team.
The gambling industry has taken that completely natural part of being a sports fan and built an extraordinarily effective business around monetizing it.
A 2026 Betterment survey found that 52% of Gen Zers surveyed had redirected money they had intended to invest toward sports betting instead. More than a quarter said sports betting was deliberately part of their long-term financial strategy. Think about that.
Some young people are beginning to think about a sportsbook the way previous generations thought about a brokerage account. That didn’t happen by accident. Some of the smartest product people, marketers and technologists in the world have spent billions removing friction from gambling.
Deposit instantly. Bet before the game. Bet during the game. Lose? Build another parlay. Get a notification. Come back tomorrow. The fan isn’t the problem. The fan is the product.
Gambling proved something. Just not what we think.
There is another alternative for sports fans who want to engage with the game in a more direct and personal way without risking the negative consequences for themselves or the sports they love. This is where the sports industry drew the wrong conclusion. And where the leagues picked the wrong partner.
We want to predict. Compete. Prove what we know. See our name climb the leaderboard. Win. Have something at stake.
Sportsbooks proved the demand and these prediction markets are proving it again.
19 of the 25 people we randomly interviewed at the Eagles Bears Monday night game had money on that game through Kalshi, DraftKings or PrizePicks.
They’re right about the demand, but we can offer fans a different way to engage.
We’re uncomfortable with our children growing up believing that they have to put money on a game to enjoy it. Is the natural evolution of being a sports fan becoming a sports bettor?
We don’t think it should be.
So we’re doing something about it.
This is why we built Jumbo.
Not to wag our finger at people who gamble. Not to make sports less competitive. Not to ask fans to care less.
Quite the opposite.
Jumbo turns the game you’re already watching into a game you can play alongside. You make predictions. Compete against other fans. Climb leaderboards. Earn rewards. Win real prizes.
There are stakes. There’s competition. There’s the feeling of calling something before everyone else and rewards for being right.
You just don’t have to put your own money at risk.
That distinction is fundamental to who we are. Jumbo will never make money because you lost it.
Sportsbooks figured out that giving someone a prediction makes them lean forward. Give them someone to compete against and the next play matters. Give them something to earn and suddenly they’re invested.
We figured it out too.
We just don’t believe losing money needs to be the business model.
Predict more, not less. Compete more. Care more. Play more. Without betting.
This is the flag we are planting.
Sports fans want to play.
They shouldn’t have to bet.
We hope you’ll PlayJumbo along with us.
Sources & Further Reading
- American Gaming Association — U.S. commercial sports betting data and annual wagering totals.
- Betterment, 2026 Retail Investor Survey — Gen Z sports betting and investing behavior, including the finding that 52% redirected money intended for investments toward sports betting.
- Danny Ainge / CBS Boston — Ainge’s public comments opposing the expansion of legalized sports gambling and describing its effects on individuals and families.
- Nation Institute of Health — Suicides tied to Sports Betting from 2023.
- NCAA — Research on sports-betting harassment directed at college athletes, including Division I men’s basketball players.
- CFTC / federal and state court proceedings — Ongoing legal and regulatory disputes over sports-event contracts offered by prediction markets.
- VolumeScout, September 13, 2026 — Prediction-market trading-volume data showing more than $3 billion in reported single-day activity across platforms.
- NFL / Gambling Insider — Reporting on the NFL’s prohibition of prediction-market advertising and distinction between prediction-market products and approved sportsbook partnerships.