What addiction experts feared may be coming to pass. In 2018, the Supreme Court made sports betting a state-by-state decision, and the expected explosion in legal sports betting has followed. Some 33 states and the District of Columbia now allow Americans to bet on live games, something that was illegal in the bulk of the country just five years ago. That open access has found a friend—or foe, depending on your perspective—in the coinciding surge in advertising and technology that enables one-click betting from the comforts of home. It's created a massive industry seemingly overnight: The Hill reports the first 11 months of 2022 saw $83 billion in sports bets placed, with betting firms keeping $6.6 billion of that. That latter figure is up 15 times since 2018. More: