Sherwood News

Americans bet more than $140 billion on sports last year

More than $15 billion was wagered in November alone, per Legal Sports Report.

1/27/25 11:29AM

America loves its sports, and risk-taking also isn’t exactly shunned in the land of the free.

Since the US Supreme Court legalized states to allow sports betting in 2018, it’s no surprise that millions of Americans have gone on to bet on their favorite team. What is surprising, however, is just how big the industry has become already.

Indeed, legal betting is now ingrained in US sports culture, with leagues and players, franchises and networks, all keen to partner with leading sportsbooks. Americans wagered more than $140 billion in 2024, per data collected by Legal Sports Report.

This includes handles from events like the Super Bowl, which was predicted to draw in $23.1 billion in a single evening, with more than a quarter of all Americans to place some form of bet on the results, according to the American Gaming Association.

At the center of the boom is the mobile-friendly betting experience offered by industry giants like DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment, the latter of which now has a $47 billion market cap, making it more valuable than physical casino giant Las Vegas Sands. A sign of the times... even if they were on the wrong side of results in December.

Luke Kawa4h

Hims & Hers sees surge turn sour in its biggest reversal since the 2025 stock market bottom

Hims & Hers erased gains of more than 5% in early trading to close down more than 7% on Thursday.

It’s the first time the telehealth company saw an intraday gain of 5% or more turn into a loss of 5% or more since April 8, 2025, which marked that year’s bottom for the S&P 500 amid the tariff-induced tumult.

Hims has been on an absolute tear this week after reaching a renewed partnership with Novo Nordisk to sell its weight-loss drugs, a pact that resolves the massive legal overhang that had been plaguing the stock. The momentum continued as Wall Street scrambled to boost its outlook on the shares following this arrangement.

There’s not much in the way of company-specific news to point to: Hims, like many other firms, tanked after the market opened as oil climbed.

Perhaps this is just a consolidation period — the so-called pause that refreshes — or a potential sign that the stock has squeezed all the juice it could out of one catalyst as the overall market wobbles under the weight of high oil prices brought about by the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks tumble as Brent crude closes above $100

Investors were plagued by inflation fears amid rising oil prices and ongoing private credit concerns.

Matt Phillips4h

Firefly Aerospace rockets higher as traders snap up calls

Firefly Aerospace shares soared after Wednesday’s successful liftoff of its Alpha rocket for the first time in almost a year was followed by a flurry of call buying in the options market.

Shortly before 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, roughly 36,000 call options on Firefly had changed hands, more than twice the average over the previous 20 days.

The Cedar Park, Texas-based designer and manufacturer of space launch vehicles has lost some serious altitude since its August 2025 IPO. It’s down about 60% since then, even after Thursday’s surge.

Vandenberg rocket launch visible across West Coast. Here's a recap

Luke Kawa

Woe de toilette

Spiking oil prices have investors turning up their noses at fragrance stocks

Estée Lauder and International Flavors & Fragrances are among the worst-performing stocks since the kinetic conflict in the Middle East started.

Saleah Blancaflor5h

Gas jumps $0.60 in under two weeks, hitting $3.60 as the market braces for possible $4 a gallon

Spring is just around the corner and gas prices just keep getting higher.

The national average for a gallon of regular gas is currently at $3.598, according to the American Automobile Association, jumping nearly $0.35 since last week.

The most recent prices are similar to the spring of 2024, while this is the first time it has gone above the $3.50 threshold since July 29, 2024.

While gas prices tend to increase during the warmer months, crude oil prices have played a major part in what consumers have been paying, at times exceeding $100 per barrel in the past few days.

To offset the rising energy costs due to the conflict in the Middle East, the US Department of Energy announced it would release 172 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves over the next four months as part of the larger effort to release 400 million oil barrels.

Prediction markets are pricing in an implied 62% chance that the price of gas exceeds $4.00 by the end of the month. Things may get even more expensive, though; markets are pricing in roughly even chances that gas finishes above $4.10, and even a 22% chance gasoline averages $4.50 per gallon by March 31.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

US gas prices jump to nearly $3.60 per gallon