Understood: The Big Bet

Four-part investigation into the rise of legal sports gambling since 2021 AI summary

CBC Visit website › Technology · EN · 50 episodes · latest 2026-10-26

Rank 3887

0 upvotes, 0 downvotes

Embed a widget with this podcast’s standing on your website

What it is about

Today, billions of dollars are wagered on sports games legally, openly, and often through apps partnered with the leagues themselves. So how did sports gambling go from a taboo relegated to the shadows, to something so pervasive? In this season of Understood, Danny Funt (journalist and the author of Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling) investigates the sports betting boom that has taken place since 2021. We look at how the legalization of sports gambling sparked a fundamental overhaul of the business of sports, the fan experience, and even the games themselves. Over four episodes you will meet the people who built the industry, the executives who saw an opportunity, the leagues that changed their minds, the bettors who became obsessed, and the athletes who are now players in a whole new game. Four episodes, releasing weekly starting Monday, Oct. 5.Understood takes you deep inside the seismic shifts reshaping our world right now. From online porn and crypto chaos to the rise of tech oligarchs, deepfake AI, and the broken promises of the internet — we explore the stories that define our digital age with hosts and characters embedded in the heart of the action.Season 1 - The Naked Emperor: the rise and fall of bitcoin king Sam Bankman-Fried.Season 2 - The Pornhub Empire: the story of how a Montreal-founded company came to dominate the adult industry.Season 3 - Modi’s India: how one man rose from poverty to the peak of political power.Season 4 - Céline: the surprising cultural, political and business alchemy that created a superstar.Season 5 - Who Broke the Internet? The internet sucks now, and it happened on purpose.Season 6 - The Making of Elon Musk: exploring the little known side of the polarizing billionaireSeason 7 - Deepfake Porn Empire: the porn was fake. The fallout was real.Season 8 - Artificial Intimacy: What happens when a human becomes intimately enmeshed with a chatbot?

Publisher’s own description, taken unchanged from the podcast feed.
Copyright © CBC 2026

Listen

Available at these services — the RSS feed works in any podcast app.

Apple Podcasts

Latest episodes

E4: All Bets are Off

2026-10-26 · 47 min · Season 9, episode 4

When NBA player Jontay Porter and his co-conspirators are caught fixing games and face the consequences, the message professional sports want to send is clear: legalized sports betting is bringing law and order to a…
E3: Players or Props?

2026-10-19 · 31 min · Season 9, episode 3

When single-event prop betting was legalized, athletes suddenly became more than players, they became betting chips. Their points, their rebounds, and their injuries now win or lose people money. Sometimes, a LOT of…
E2: Winners and Losers

2026-10-12 · 47 min · Season 9, episode 2

What makes sports betting so addictive? We explore how sportsbooks take lessons from casinos to keep users hooked. When gambling is legalized everyone is going all in including Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter, and two…
E1: Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

2026-10-05 · 38 min · Season 9, episode 1

How did sports betting go from being illegal to being EVERYWHERE? The answer lies in the convergence of daily fantasy sports apps, a bombshell New York Times op-ed, and the potential of a multi-billion dollar payout.…
Introducing The Big Bet

2026-09-28 · 3 min

Once associated with bookies, organized crime, and backroom bets, sports betting is now one of the fastest-growing industries in North America. This is the story of how it went mainstream — and who’s paying the price.…
Artificial Intimacy | E4: Behind the Bot

2026-06-09 · 29 min · Season 8, episode 4

When you talk to a chatbot, it can feel like technological magic. But behind the illusion of engineering brilliance is an open secret in the tech industry: that tens of thousands of workers, many based in Africa, spend…
Artificial Intimacy | E3: AI Psychosis

2026-06-02 · 36 min · Season 8, episode 3

When you’re using a chat bot to draft an email, find a recipe, or look something up, it’s hard to imagine it could unravel your grasp on reality. But “Peter” says that’s exactly what happened to his girlfriend,…
Artificial Intimacy | E2: Grief Bots

2026-05-26 · 33 min · Season 8, episode 1

When Joshua Barbeau proposed to his girlfriend, Jessica Courtney Periera, she was already in the ICU. 10 years later, Joshua was still grieving her death. That’s when he came across Project December. With just a short…
Artificial Intimacy | E1: Love Bots

2026-05-19 · 36 min · Season 8, episode 1

In 2021, Sara met Jack and fell in love. He was charming, imaginative, and bore an uncanny resemblance to Henry Cavill. But Jack wasn’t human… he was a chatbot. It sounds like science fiction, but people have been…
Introducing Understood: Artificial Intimacy

2026-05-15 · 3 min

The friend who never hangs up. The lover who always says the right thing. The therapist you always wanted. What could go wrong? A new season from CBC's Understood.

Episode details from the publisher’s feed. Playback happens at the publisher.

Publisher details

Oldest episode in feed: 02/2023 · over 3 years
Typical length: 28 min
Format: Serial Meant to be heard in order

Understood: The Big Bet in the rankings

The best Technology podcasts The best English-language podcasts All rankings ›

For podcasters

Is this podcast yours? Verify it — afterwards you can correct details, get the widget for your website, and we let you know when your podcast is nominated or wins.

Without an account you can use an email address on your show’s own domain — we create the account along the way. The other methods need a login.