Ryan Ball

| RIP NMB | Buffalo, NY | You’ve got to focus less on the where and more on the going

[Eric Spracklen 🇺🇸 @EricSpracklen]

If you bought this home today with a 30 year mortgage, it would be almost 90 years old by the time you pay it off.

Who is the next buyer in 2056!?!?

This market is so ready to collapse.

[Naked City Pizza @nakedcitylv]

Hey @NHL , @DIRECTV , @espn I hope you step on all the legos in the dark!!

Sincerely,
Small business owners everywhere you blacked out the Stanley cup

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@grok @drewgriff83 @EricLDaugh There is no such thing as free money 🙈

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Warren Buffett, in his first sit-down since stepping down as Berkshire CEO, gave the cleanest indictment of legalized gambling in a decade. He called it a tax cut for the wealthy. The math proves him exactly right.

Americans wagered $165 billion at legal sportsbooks in 2025. They lost $16 billion of that. FanDuel pulled $6 billion of the losses. DraftKings pulled $5.3 billion. Every state with legal mobile sports betting collected a tax on the bettor side. New York alone took in over $1.2 billion in 2025 sports betting tax revenue.

Layer the lottery on top. State lotteries generate over $90 billion a year. The bottom half of income earners account for roughly 70% of total spend. The average lottery player makes $38,000. A household earning $20,000 spends three times more on tickets than one earning $30,000. The implicit tax rate, meaning whatever the state keeps after prizes, runs 30 to 50% depending on the game. No other revenue source in America has that base and that rate.

The structural design is the engine. A single straight sports bet carries a hold of 4 to 5%. A four-leg parlay carries a hold above 30%. FanDuel and DraftKings spent five years rebuilding their apps to make parlays the default product. FanDuel's blended hold rate hit 11.4% in 2025, up from roughly 7% in 2022. The product got worse for the customer and the customer wagered more anyway.

Now look at the substitution. Nine US states have no state income tax. Seven of those nine run state lotteries. Seven of those nine have legalized sports betting. The states most committed to never taxing wealth are the same states running the largest extraction machines on people who cannot afford to lose. Read it as policy.

Here is what Buffett is actually pointing at. The state needs revenue. It can raise income tax on the top decile, or it can run a lottery plus a sports betting tax. The second option raises the money from the people who can least afford it. The first option becomes politically optional. New York's $1.2 billion in 2025 sports betting tax is $1.2 billion the state did not have to ask of someone earning $5 million.

DraftKings and FanDuel sell a privatized collection mechanism for a regressive tax that the state never has to defend at the ballot box again. Voters approve legalization once. Collection runs forever. The state takes a cut. The wealthy get a quieter top bracket. The bettor's cut shrinks every quarter as the parlay menu gets pushed harder.

The function of a government, Buffett said, is not to play its people for suckers.

Thirty-nine state governments now do.

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

I just entered: Win Cash Spring 2026. You can too! 1065wyrk https://t.co/wFYthru5Ue

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

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[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@bronzeageshawty Not to mention it is taxed so heavily if you withdraw 100k you’re only going to get net 65k 💀

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@HeDontMakeNoise This video is an all timer

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@BrianKnepper5 @MLFootball @wufosports @lisaunger_716 @BuffaloBossBabe @buffalobillsbae Say what you want but they wouldn’t have to worry about being followed by the paparazzi in Buffalo 😂

[Spittin' Chiclets @spittinchiclets]

“Young kids nowadays, it’s like their parents put them in hockey to make the NHL and that’s the only reason they play the game.”

Parents today need to take a breather and just let their kids play hockey for the love of the game.

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@BizNasty2point0 @sheen0101 @spittinchiclets Sabres 2.0 get ready for 14 years of misery Biz

[Shooter McGavin @ShooterMcGavin]

This hits hard

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@YaBoyCoots Damn coots this one’s a heater 🔥 should gritty be sent to the guillotine ???!

[ESPN @espn]

ONE OF THE MOST ENTERTAINING GAMES YOU WILL EVER SEE!!

15 GOALS AND A COMBINED 102 PENALTY MINUTES IN SABRES-LIGHTNING 🤯

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@CenzoGoat @JackKennedy The next Puca would be nice

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@Pierre_Kingpin This aged well 😂

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@RJaron95 @c0lemanforsix @BLG60311999 @Schultz_Report 2-0

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@FitzMagic_14 @DeeBow13 They’re called seekers… they have a stench and a demeanor that’s tough to mistake

[Ryan Ball @ryanball_]

@DelmonacoN83091 @Vinod_r108 @justinbieber You care enough to comment