“It’s gone from being a social taboo to being a way the government raises revenues. “ I think if you rewind the tape in this country, there’s a very good argument that gambling should just be illegal everywhere,” he says. On the other hand, Lewis is no fan of sports betting from a social point of view. People look at OpenBet sports betting products at the Scientific Games booth during the Global Gaming Expo on Oct. Supreme Court in May struck down PASPA, the federal ban on sports betting, businesses that sell betting data have benefited and pro leagues have rushed in to capitalize. Stats and analytics have played a central role in the rise of legalized sports betting. I don’t want your numbers.” Legal sports betting is ‘a big deal for baseball’ “Just leave me alone! Let me internalize that in my own emotional way.

“ I am so sick of people telling me what the probability of victory is at any given moment,” Lewis said. The players, once they are signed, are totally in control in a lot of ways the baseball and football players are not.”Īnd Lewis shared a particular pet peeve of his amidst the stat revolution in sports and sports media: the ‘win probability’ chart that sports sites display prominently during games these days. “Basketball is the one American sport that has a shot to be a truly global sport like soccer,” he said on the podcast. Instead, Lewis sees the biggest growth potential in the NBA. Lewis, who also wrote about pro football in “ The Blind Side,” says pro baseball “ occupies a shrinking segment of the American attention span.” And last year, amidst the NFL’s ratings dip and political controversy, Lewis told Yahoo Finance the NFL could be the next “big short.”

Michael Lewis at George Washington University on Apin Washington, DC.

Michael lewis moneyball author