Dr. Michael Mandel never intended to research the economic impact of sports betting. The chief economist and vice president of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) got into gambling for a simple reason: He wanted something to share with his then-94-year-old father.
“I got into it in an odd way,” Mandel told InGame. “I wanted an activity to do with my dad, who was an ex-accountant. I figured he’d be interested in sports gambling.”
What started as small March Madness bets became a weekly ritual that lasted until his father’s death.
“Each week we’d line up some bets, go over them, and we kept doing it regularly until he passed away,” Mandel said. “He’d write down the bets on a piece of paper and keep track of them, and I’d report back the results each week. He enjoyed it.”
That personal experience led Mandel to examine sports betting through his professional lens at PPI, a think tank focused on balancing innovation with regulation. The result is a new study that challenges the narrative that legalized sports betting is driving Americans into financial ruin.
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