Losses were deductible until a few years ago. Now most people just pay on the winnings. Once the standard deduction was raised, that deduction went away. Losses maybe deductable if you itemize (?), but it’s a pretty high bar.

Winnings over a certain amount are reported to the IRS. W-2 G

Handle is gross throughput, not consumer expenditure: over 90% of what is wagered gets returned to bettors in the form of winnings. That $1,000 in bets translates to roughly $100 in average losses per adult.

The market is big, but less than the more clickbaity headline would suggest.

For the low introductory cost of just 100 septims per annum.

Maybe they’re just one of today’s lucky ten thousand.