WILLIAM BRANGHAM: March Madness is in full# swing, and it's that time of year when even## those of us not inclined to gamble might# just toss a few dollars into the office pool## hoping to just pick up the right# upset and land a big payout.

For our podcast "Settle In," Geoff Bennett# recently spoke with journalist and author David## Hill.

He's extensively covered sports betting# for "Rolling Stone" and in his upcoming book.

Here's a brief excerpt.

GEOFF BENNETT: One thing I know that a lot# of c.. if you win too consistently, that# sportsbooks can really shut you out.

Tell me tell me more about that.

DAVID HILL, American Gambler Substack:# This is something that Ame.. are growing more and more aware of as we see# the expansion of sports betting in Ame.. particularly with the types of companies that are## controlling the market right now, what some# people would call recreational sportsbooks.

And that's that the larger sportsbooks in America# like FanDuel, DraftKings, MGM, Caesars, that they## will -- if a player shows any real propensity to# win, that they're adept at understanding how to## win at gambling, they will limit their bets,# that they will limit those folks to betting## small amounts of money to protect their own# liabilities against those types of bettors.

And this shocks some people.

I mean, originally,# the bettors who were getting limited in the early## days of sports betting sort of growing# in the United States, were professionals,## people that bet pretty large sums of money# and were winning large sums of money.

But, at this point, it's# pretty scattershot.

I mean,## I think a lot of these sportsbooks# are painting with a pretty wide brush.## And we're seeing that a lot of gamblers# who don't bet very large amounts of money,## myself included, have found that they have been# limited by sportsbooks, down to where they can## only bet a penny on a game or something like# that, because they maybe won too much money.

Or even -- you don't even have to really win# a lot of money.

You just have to show that## you're able to win at a certain type of# bet or a certain type of sport over time.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, tell me# about your experience with this.

DAVID HILL: My experience is that I'm# not somebody who bets lots of money.

I'm## somebody who, if I bet a couple hundred bucks on# a game, that was a pretty decent size bet for me.

And I found that in a number of sportsbooks,# my bets would -- over time got limited down## to where I couldn't bet $5, $10.

And sometimes,# in some cases, I couldn't bet more than a penny## simply because I was winning.

I was betting on# things that the sportsbook maybe felt like they## didn't have as strong of a model or as good of# a sense of what the price should be that I did.

And that's essentially what sportsbooks are# doing.

They're profiling their players to say,## if this player seems to understand the bet# better than we do, we just won't take their bet.## But if the player seems to be someone# who is just sort of betting foolishly## and is likely to lose, we will# let them bet as much as they want.

In fact, the more foolish this bettor looks,# the higher limit we will give them.

And I think## that these two things in combination is a real# problem, The fact that you limit people who win,## but you will expand the limits for# people who lose is a bad recipe.

In Europe, they call this the ban-or-bankrupt# model, that you ban anybody that's going to win## over time and then you bankrupt all the players# who you have identified are never going to win.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: You can watch that full# conversation and all our episodes of "Settle In"## on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.