Local Family Starts New Tradition of Online Sports Betting

By Teagan Pompa

CHICAGO - While the average American family is slammed with extra curricular activities, various appointments, and endlessly scrolling on their phones while in the same room as each other, the George’s of Lincoln Park are adopting a tradition that just so happens to be sweeping the nation; online sports betting.

Anita George, the matriarch of the family, which lives in Lincoln Park, recalls her earliest memories as a child, and why she hopes this new tradition will have that same sentimental feel.

“We would go to my grandparents house every Sunday for dinner and listen to my grandpa tell the same story about World War II every week,” Anita said. “Now, I get to recreate that with my kids by having a heated family discussion on if $500 is too much to bet on Sam Howell throwing three touchdowns against the Bears.”

In the past, Anita has tried to create other, more orthodox traditions with her family, but nothing seemed to stick. Then she discovered the DraftKings mobile sports betting app. 

“We still go to Church on Sundays. But we found that we save time and money if we leave when the collection basket comes out,” she said. “Plus, you get incredible value on bets right before kickoff, which seems to really bring everybody together.”

She’s even gotten older members of the George family to participate. 

“I even got my mom to join,” added Anita. “She’s been using her Social Security on nightly same game parlays. It’s been really wonderful to see her buy in.”

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Not to be outdone, Helena George, Anita’s 17 year old daughter, is also leveraging ESPN's parent company Disney's recent deal with Penn Entertainment to encourage her 6 year old cousin to gamble.

“He thinks that his favorite Disney characters won’t have any money if he doesn’t gamble using ESPN Bet," said Helena. "I just told him, would you want to be the reason Mickey Mouse loses his Clubhouse?”

Anita’s husband, Frank Sr. always loved watching football on Sundays. But now, the entire family can come together and join him.

“My wife makes this amazing buffalo chicken dip for us to watch NFL RedZone. I told her to leave out the salt because my son will have already lost $1,000 by half time, so his salty tears freshen up the dip,” Frank said. “Helps brighten the mood since he gambled away his college fund.”

With the NFL season set to kick off Thursday, Anita is confident this new tradition will be one that lasts in the George family “for a long time.”

“We owe Roger Goodell a big thank you for going back on his word on sports betting in the NFL,” she added. “Granted, we are in a lot of debt, but it's a debt I can pass down to future generations. Now that’s tradition.”

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