A few years ago, the Supreme Court had overturned a federal decision to ban state-authorized gambling on sporting events and opening the doors for operators to return. Now as we move through the pandemic a few years later, the growing support for online betting options continues to grow with expectation that further regulation changes will lead to growth in the market, an industry that has welcomed its fair share of Jewish players.

There are already some legendary names for young Jewish players to follow. Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Sigel had been instrumental in developing and organising different gambling events across anything you could think to bet on, with popular figures of Hyman Roth and Moe Greene in the Godfather movies apparently being loosely based on them. Other big names include Arnold “The Brain” Rothstein, who was one of the most notorious Jewish sports gamblers. Finding his start in horse racing using a net of informants, he was able to carve a path to become a millionaire in the early 20th century. With the most well-known bets he’s credited of making is with the ‘Black Sox Scandal of 1919’, with involved fixing a World Series game in baseball. Whilst perhaps not the most legitimate examples of Jewish sports betters, their well-documented proclivities have certainly been a direction for many in the Jewish community to follow. This is also likely what has led to the growth of sports betting within the community throughout the 20th century, even leading to the popularity in recent years.

(Image from pokernews.com)

In the ‘80’s, gambling had grown enough to be considered a huge problem within the Jewish community in New York City. That led to the creation of the Task Force on Compulsive Gambling but did little to discourage the ever-growing numbers. The most recent hoping to find success had been Robert Gorodetsky, given a nearly $1 million loan by the age of 20 to bet on the stock market. This college dropout now in his late 20’s had quickly grown to become one of the most prominent sports gamblers in Vegas, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the successful Jewish gamblers of the early century. So successful were his escapades, he had been known to gamble with one of the biggest names in the celebrity world, such as Drake and Odell Beckham Jr. With many suggesting that he could become the first billionaire in the US from sports gambling and with recent moves to allow legal sports betting across the US things had certainly been looking up.

History has a habit of repeating itself however, and for Gorodetsky it seemed the dreams of becoming a billionaire from sports betting would be short lived. Earlier this year it came to light that Gorodetsky had been involved in a fraud scheme from the very person that had given the nearly $1 million loan. It came to light that between July 2014 and November 2017, Gorodetsky had also been taking investment funds for sports betting purposes but would instead use that money for luxury goods and living the lavish lifestyle. With a huge social media following and the public persona that he had become the face of online US sports betting with the prior billionaire expectations, it’s easy to see why many would trust the investment. It has also been suggested however that his large social media following has had a big impact on the development of the sports betting market across some states, as the outreach given by a public figure with connections to other big celebrities has made it popular. The recent news around the fraud case and the possibility of further punishment to the ‘face of US sports betting’ man in fact do the opposite and harm the growth moving forward.

Either way, with growing support there will likely lead to a number of opportunities for play from a community that has historically shown a lot of interest in sports betting. With further movements being made thanks to widespread use of mobile devices and the growing number of apps and sites catering more to specific audiences to deliver a tailored experience – whether or not online betting is kosher or not is up to you, but support is certainly growing.