PITTSBURGH —

Carnegie Mellon University will debut a new class this spring that aims to teach students the math behind sports betting and the risks that come with it, as wagering becomes increasingly common on college campuses.

Ron Yurko, director of CMU’s Sports Analytics Center, said the idea took shape after he watched students pull out their phones during class, open betting apps, and place wagers within seconds. Advertisement

"As a statistics educator and someone that’s also very much involved in the sports analytics field, we should be tackling this subject head-on,” he said.

The course will walk students through how to assess the true odds of popular wager types and the likelihood of coming out ahead over time.

“I’m going to be covering how you determine the expected value of

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