Sports fans to spend a record $30 billion betting on this year’s NFL football season

$30B

Americans are set to gamble a record $30 billion on the NFL this season, according to estimates from the American Gaming Association.

For context, that’s the same price tag as all US sports broadcasting rights combined. Leading sportsbooks like DraftKings, Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel, Caesars Entertainment, and MGM’s BetMGM are positioned to cash in, with each battling for market share through promos, partnerships, and increasingly sticky mobile apps.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are ramping up efforts to crack down on illegal sportsbooks: this month, 50 attorneys general urged the Justice Department to take action against unlicensed gambling, warning that states are losing roughly $4 billion in tax revenue.

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“Zootopia 2” is a rare smash hit for Hollywood at the Chinese box office

The Disney sequel just had the second-biggest foreign film debut ever in China, even as the country’s box office leans heavily toward domestic movies.

Millie Giles, David Crowther12/1/25

Hyunsoo Rim

11/28/25

US officials want to bring back the “Golden Age of Travel” — and that starts with ditching pajamas at the airport

Views on what makes for acceptable plane wear vary by generation.

Joyful man in colorful unicorn pajamas with a suitcase against a violet background

Max Knoblauch11/26/25

Netflix climbs ahead of “Stranger Things” streaming premiere amid reports it is ramping up its efforts to acquire WBD

The final season of Netflix’s tentpole franchise “Stranger Things” debuts on the streamer at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and its stock appears to be safely out of the upside down.

Netflix is trading up about 2% on Wednesday, on pace for one of its better days in the past three months. The stock has closed up more than 3% only a dozen times this year.

Potentially boosting investor optimism is a New York Post report from Tuesday evening that the streamer has ramped up its efforts to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. According to the Post, Netflix has made a case to the WBD board that antitrust concerns may not be warranted because Netflix competes not just with other streaming companies but with a larger pool of content providers, such as YouTube and TikTok. If Netflix’s legal team is right, the idea could pave the way for the world’s largest streamer by subscriber count to buy the fourth-largest.

At least one major Hollywood player is rooting against the company in the WBD bidding war. “Titanic” and “Avatar” director James Cameron this week said that Netflix acquiring WBD “would be a disaster.”

Morgan Stanley analysts have also argued that Netflix’s pursuit of these studio and streaming assets was creating headaches for its investors.

Millie Giles

MIXED PICTURES

11/26/25

2025’s biggest movies are family-friendly PG flicks and R-rated horrors

Thrill-seeking adults and children accompanied by parents have been propping up the box office this year.

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