Social media data shows rise of popularity of sports betting

The passionate online community known as Gambling Twitter has long been an intense battleground, full of bettors, bookmakers, con artists and trolls.

For years, bettors and bookmakers have relentlessly lobbed pot shots at each other, while anxiously awaiting the next tweet from a small-college beat writer or for a WNBA player to post a telling emoji. Meanwhile, con artists, promising inside information and guaranteed locks, lurk behind random…