Is gambling the reason we have pro sports?

NPR. This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong. And I'm Darienne Woods. The FIFA Men's World Cup is expected to be the biggest sports betting event ever. And around the world, sports gambling has a long history that goes back millennia, all the way back to ancient Olympic Games in Greece. Spectators at horse races in England and France have been betting since the seventeenth century, and it's been legal in many countries for decades. In The US, though, sports gambling was essentially illegal until 2018. Other than Nevada and a handful of other places. Right. Always Nevada. Then in 2018, a Supreme Court decision allowed states to legalize this kind of betting. But David Aquino has his own take about how long gambling has been a part of American sports. He's the author of the new book Over Under, An Unexpected History of Sports Betting. If you look back, betting and wagering and the people who placed bets were basically at the beginning of nearly every single American sport, league, and competition that we have. They were the first ones to show up. David argues that gambling is not something that grew out of American sports. It's actually the other way around. Collegiate and professional sports in The US exist in their current form because of gambling. Today in the show, David makes his case that the American love of wagering fueled the rise of professional sports, and he tells us how he views the current boom in gambling. This message comes from Angie. Tackling a home project, Angie can connect you with pros who do such a good job, you might ask them to be your kid's godfather. Don't do that. Just trust them to get the job done. Find a pro for your projects at angi.com. That's angi.com. Support for this podcast and the following message come from Rivian, makers of the all electric three row r one s SUV and the always capable r one t pickup. With impressive range, storage for any expedition, and technology that feels like second nature, Rivian vehicles are designed for those who seek to explore the planet and preserve it for generations to come. Learn more or schedule a demo drive at rivian.com. This message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at mintmobile.com/switch. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. David Bicchino is an associate professor of sport management at Elon University in North Carolina. The students in his program learn the business side of sports from law to sales and marketing. Do you, like, survey your students about how many of them, you know, participate in sports gambling or have, like, DraftKings accounts? And is it, like, 90%, a 100%, like, sports management students? I survey them all the time. It's a super high percentage. Right? But the two most interesting, pieces of information …