E303 - Jonathan Cohen

On Episode 303 of the Business of Betting podcast, Jeff Edelstein is joined by Jonathan Cohen, Policy Lead at the American Institute for Boys and Men and author of Losing Big, for a wide-ranging discussion on sports betting regulation, the challenges facing young men, prediction markets, gambling education, dopamine-driven technology, and the future of responsible gambling policy.

Hear them discuss:

• Why Jonathan believes sports betting should remain legal, but argues its rapid post-PASPA rollout lacked the guardrails needed to protect younger and more vulnerable consumers.
• How the challenges facing boys and young men from economic uncertainty to shifting ideas of masculinity can make gambling, prediction markets, and other high-risk activities especially appealing.
• Why gambling should be viewed alongside crypto, day trading, collectibles, online casinos, social media, and other dopamine-driven products competing for people's attention.
• Whether sportsbooks, prediction markets, and regulators should introduce more friction through default betting limits, waiting periods, and restrictions on high-frequency betting products like microbets.
• Why Jonathan believes prediction markets may pose even greater consumer risks than traditional sportsbooks by marketing themselves as opportunities to make money.
• How advertising shapes public perception of gambling, investing, and financial success, and why younger bettors may be especially vulnerable to those messages.
• The similarities between gambling, alcohol, pornography, social media, and other modern technologies that exploit the brain's dopamine reward system.
• Jonathan's outlook on the future of gambling regulation, why today's debates may look very different five years from now, and what reforms he believes are both realistic and achievable.
• Jonathan's unexpected work as a Bruce Springsteen scholar, what he learned from studying Springsteen's fanbase, and why great art means something different to every listener.

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