A record 50.4 million American adults plan to bet on this years Super Bowl, wagering a total of $16 billion, the gambling industrys national trade group predicted Tuesday.

The American Gaming Association forecasts that 1 in 5 American adults will place a bet on Sundays NFL championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.

The estimate includes legal bets, and those placed with illegal bookies or casually among friends or relatives.

The total amount expected to be wagered this year is more than double the amount from last year as the legal U.S. sports betting market continues to grow.

There are three additional states offering legal sports betting this year Kansas, Ohio and Massachusetts compared with a year earlier, for a total of 33 states plus Washington, D.C. Maryland also added mobile sports betting in the past year, but it had in-person wagering for last years Super Bowl.

More than half of all American adults live in a market where sports betting is legal.

Every year, the Super Bowl serves to highlight the benefits of legal sports betting: Bettors are transitioning to the protections of the regulated market, leagues and sports media are seeing increased engagement, and legal operators are driving needed tax revenue to states across the country, said Bill Miller, the associations president and CEO.

Hard data is backing up predictions of a record-setting betting market for this years game. GeoComply, which handles nearly all the online betting traffic for the U.S. sports betting market to verify a customer is in a particular location where such bets are legal, says it has recorded over 550 million geolocation checks during the NFL playoffs from Jan. 14 to 29.

Thats up 50% from the same period last year, and the group is predicting record-setting volume for this years Super Bowl.

Eilers & Krejcik Gaming Research, an independent analytics firm in California, looked solely at legal bets. It predicted a total of just over $1 billion this year, led by Nevada ($155 million); New York ($111 million); Pennsylvania ($91 million); Ohio ($85 million) and New Jersey ($84 million.) Their research was not involved in the AGA predictions.

The company estimated 10 to 15% of that total would be wagered live after the game begins, and that 15 to 20% would come in the form of same-game parlays, or a combination of bets involving the same game, such as betting on the winner, the total points scored and how many passing yards Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts will accumulate.

The AGA survey found bettors evenly split, with 44% backing the Chiefs and an identical percentage betting on the Eagles.

The Eagles were 1.5-point favorites as of Monday night on FanDuel, the official odds provider to The Associated Press.

There is a vast array of bets offered on the big game, from the most basic predictions of which team will win and by how many points, to wagering on the total amount of points scored in the game.

Also popular are so-called proposition or prop bets on individual player performances, like whether Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will throw two or fewer touchdown passes or how many rushing yards Eagles running back Miles Sanders will accumulate.

For the Super Bowl, these bets encompass outcomes as unusual as whether the opening coin toss will come up heads or tails; whether the final score of the game has ever happened before as the score of a past Super Bowl, and even what color of Gatorade will be dumped on the winning coach.

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Turns out, the bonds formed during that Zoom trivia night didnt quite stick; workers havent been this unengaged in a decade. 

To use the much-maligned term, everyone is quiet quitting. Yes, even fully remote workers, who saw an increase of four percentage points in quiet quitting, per recent data from Gallup. It might lend some credence to the pro-office brigade, which counts Elon Musk, Jamie Dimon, and David Solomon among its staunchest proponents.

They may seem to be winning the return-to-office war, with office occupancy topping 50% for the first time since the pandemic began, but it could backfire in the end. Thats because mandating workers to return to the office isnt the fix to depressed engagement. Gallup found that the sharpest decline in employee engagement was actually among those in remote-ready roles who were working fully in-person: Engagement dropped by five percentage points, and their active disengagement grew by seven percentage points. 

Gallup measured engagement by asking 15,000 workers about different workplace elementslike productivity, opportunities for development, and overall well-beingthat they correlate with organizational outcomes. 

Before the pandemic came along, employee engagement was on a decade-strong hot streak in the U.S., hitting a record high in 2019. But since then, things have been going downhill. The annual rate of engaged employees dropped from 36% in 2020 to 32% in 2022. Last year, nearly one-fifth of employees (18%) were actively disengaged. The ratio of engaged to actively disengaged U.S. workers was 1.8-to-1, the lowest ratio since 2013. 

Organizational satisfaction, clarity of expectations, opportunities to do what you do best, and feeling connected to the organizations mission or purpose also declined substantially over the past three years.

While every disengaged worker looks different, theyre united by their disgruntlement and disloyalty, Gallup writes, because most of their workplace needs, such as feeling cared about or ample advancement opportunities are unmet.

Embrace flexible work and focus on manager-employee connections

Younger workers have become less engaged than their more seasoned counterparts, Gallup found. Gen Z and millennial engagement dropped by four percentage points during the pandemic, while that of workers 35 and over decreased by only two percentage points. 

They were less likely to report having a best friend at work, feeling like their opinions matter, or having someone at work who encourages their development. And women were more likely to become disengaged than men.

But Gallup says getting them back on board is far from a lost causeyou just have to look outside the office. Companies who bucked the trend and reported much higher engagement embraced flexible work while prioritizing strong manager-employee connections.  

If companies fail to embrace hybrid work for employees in remote-ready jobs, theyll face an uphill battle in attracting and retaining star employees, Gallup writes. The proper mix of in-person timeGallup recommends suggesting but not mandating Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdaysresults in the highest engagement levels, it found. 

The best companies kept performance, collaboration, employee wellbeing, and the customer at the center of how work gets done, Gallup wrote. And most importantly, they equipped their managers with the tools to have ongoing meaningful conversations with employees.  

Another word of advice from Gallup : Managers should have one meaningful conversation per week with each direct report about their goals and well-being. This is the best shot at keeping them connected and driven, and its the one single habit develops high-performance relationships more than any other single leadership activity. 

Just keep those conversations to 30 minutes max, Gallup advises; no one likes a needlessly long meeting.

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Hollywood star Elijah Wood has hit out at a major movie theater company over its decision to tier ticket pricing based on the comfort and view that comes with your seat.

AMC TheatresAmericas biggest movie theater chainunveiled its new pricing plan on Monday, under which seat location will determine the cost of a ticket.

The scheme, which AMC has dubbed Sightline, will make seats in the middle of the auditorium cost a dollar or two more, while those in the front row will become a little cheaper.

By the end of the year, the company will have rolled the pricing structure out to all of its domestic locations for movie showings after 4 p.m.

The cheapest ticket prices will only be available to members of AMCs loyalty program, AMC Stubs. Members of AMCs A-List subscription membership will be able to upgrade their tickets to the most expensive seating for free.

In a tweet on Monday, Woodwho has starred in several blockbusters including the Lord of the Rings trilogyaccused AMC of destroying a sacred democratic space with its new ticketing system.

Representatives for AMC were not immediately available when contacted by Fortune.

Wood wasnt the only person to object to AMCs plans, with many Twitter users calling for a reversal of the program or declaring their own plans to boycott the companys theaters rather than pay a premium for a reasonable seat.

Others speculated that AMCs new strategy would actively ruin the business and increase the likelihood of cinemas undergoing a long, slow, agonizing death.

Many theater operatorsincluding AMChave long been offering premium or luxury movie viewings with plush seating and other perks for those willing to pay more for their ticket.

AMCs Prime showings offer customers special comfort seating and enhanced projection technology, while other chains, like Cinépoliswhich promises bottomless popcorn, in-theater waiters and a gourmet menuexist only to offer luxurious experiences for moviegoers.

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Wall Street veteran Anthony Scaramucci was badly burned by the downfall of crypto exchange FTX and its disgraced founder Sam Bankman-Friedbut he isnt letting it deter him from the cryptocurrency industry, even when former FTX executives are involved.

The FTX experience overall was extremely disappointing, Scaramucci told Fortune in a recent conversation. Sam is extremely intelligent, and even likable, but sociopathic enough to destructively mislead colleagues and even family. From an early stage, he put measures in place to dupe those conducting due diligence and oversight.

Representatives for Bankman-Fried and FTX did not respond to Fortunes request for comment.

The rapid rise to success of FTX and its founderalso known as SBFsaw him become a prominent figure in the business world, gaining major investment from big-name organizations and A-listers, as well as a slew of media attentionincluding from Fortune.

It all came crashing down in November when the company collapsed in just 48-hours, resulting in bankruptcy and SBF being charged with fraud.

Mere months ago, Scaramuccis own involvement with FTX appeared to be going well, with the SkyBridge Capital founder fundraising with SBF in the Middle East just weeks before FTXs spectacular implosion.

Now, Scaramucci is one of many investors facing massive losses from FTXs downfall, telling Markets Insider last month that he got just $400,000 back on his $10 million investment in the company. SkyBridge, meanwhile, saw its biggest fund tumble 39% last year due in part to its bad bet on FTX.

Funding former FTX execs new start-up

Despite his bad experience, Scaramucci has decided to fund a new crypto software company established by Brett Harrison, the former president of FTXs U.S. arm.

Scaramucci confirmed in a tweet last month that he was investing in Harrisons new start-up, saying he was proud to be injecting capital into the company and encouraging its founder to go forward [and] dont look back.

Bloomberg later revealed that Scaramucci would be investing his own personal money into Harrisons new crypto venture, which is reportedly seeking funding at a valuation of up to $100 million.

The company is planning to build software that will allow crypto traders to write algorithms for their strategies and access various types of crypto markets, according to Bloomberg.

Scaramucci has not revealed how much he invested in Harrisons company.

Harrison stepped down as president of FTX U.S. less than 18 months into the role, around two months before the company declared bankruptcy and its spectacular implosion unfolded.

The defunct crypto exchanges former U.S. boss said in a Twitter thread last month that he had major concerns about how Bankman-Fried was running FTX, but that he never would have guessed there was fraud involved.

Perhaps Scaramucci can relate to leaving a job because of disagreements with the bossthe founder of Skybridge Capital served as former President Donald Trumps communications chief, but was sacked after just 10 days. His latest career pivot is into the world of content creation, having launched book club-style podcast Open Book last week.

In conversation with Fortune, Scaramucci defended Harrison, describing him as a talented person with integrity who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when it came to FTX.

FTX U.S. was walled off from the criminal activity of the international business; he was not in Sams inner circle and was not involved in any of the nefarious activity, he said. [Now] he is tackling an important hurdle to greater institutional crypto adoption, and I think he will be successful.

Scaramucci argued that the FTX ordeal highlighted the need for regulators to urgently learn more about blockchain technology and find ways to regulate activity in the spacebut without completely stifling innovation.

In light of Scaramuccis involvement with FTX and its alumniand crypto assets coming off of a terrible year in 2022the hedge funders outlook on cryptocurrencies remains relatively positive.

Crypto is at an inflection point where only the high-quality projects and people will survive in the industry over the next 12 to 18 months, he speculated. While the Federal Reserve may slow its pace of monetary tightening, the zero-interest-rate QE era is over and investors will be more discerning about how and where they allocate capital.

He added: I believe the extremely negative sentiment today on the entire spaceincluding Bitcoin, Ethereum and Blockchain-utility oriented projectsis becoming a contrarian indicator.

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Generation Z is notoriously open.

Born between 1997 and 2012, they have earned a reputation for being vocal about politics, equality and salary transparency.

Its not surprising given that they have grown up with social media at their fingertips, to use to shout out about the many issues theyve witnessed in their short lifespan, from George Floyds murder to school shootings.

But there is one topic that is apparently off-limits: finance. 

Despite hustle culture dominating their TikTok feeds, new research shows that Gen Z would rather talk about almost anything than their finances. 

Business software company Intuit surveyed over 4,000 people from the United States and Canada about their attitudes on personal finances.

It found that around 30% of Gen Zers are comfortable discussing mental health, sexual experiences, and politics. Yet only a quarter are comfortable talking about their salary and savings.

And while 48% of the general population said that their friends know more about their sexual experiences than their debt, this jumped to 66% for 18 to 25-year-olds.

Still, theyd like the topic to become more talked about. 

Filtered finances

Although 69% of Gen Zers said they wish people were more open about personal finances, they are also more likely than other generations to lie about how much money they make or owe in order to save face.

Its a phenomenon that the report calls filtered finances. 

Essentially, the generation that is used to seeing airbrushed candids of influencers on Instagram is more likely to similarly gloss over their success online. 

But its wreaking havoc with their confidence.

Heavily curated feeds are known to make people feel inadequate about their bodies and love lives, and its also leaving Gen Z feeling like financial failures. 

Around three-quarters of Gen Zers surveyed said that social media makes them feel less prosperous and behind in accomplishing their life goals because they see so many others around them succeeding. 

They are also twice as likely than the general population to compare themselves to others onlineand when they do, 70% of Gen Zers said they wind up feeling behind. This drops to 50% for the general population.

Unsurprisingly, having arguably more access to financial information than any other generation doesnt translate to financial transparency or success. 

Despite being able to watch money tips galore on TikTok, the survey found that Gen Z is frequently paralyzed by conflicting advice. 

As a result, they are twice as likely than the general population to not feel confident managing their money. 

But, they take a short-term view on finances generally anyway. 

Gen Zers dont live to work, they work to live

Although Gen Z is interested in exploring and learning about saving and investing, they take a much softer approach to putting money away for the future than previous generations. 

The Intuit survey illustrates that young people would rather feel more fulfilled now than save for a future that is unknown. 

In the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and turbulence in Russia, many Western countries are experiencing some form of slowdown or recession. As such, 73% of GenZers said that the current economy makes them hesitant to set up a long-term savings goal. Meanwhile, 66% worry theyll never have enough money to retire.

The economic shocks of the last few years have transformed how Gen Z views success, and this survey revealed that prosperity means something different to everyone, particularly Zoomers, said Brittney Castro, Intuit consumer financial advocate.

Its perhaps why experiences matter more than money to Gen Z, with over two-thirds claiming that they are only interested in money to sustain their other interests in life.

As a result, the incoming work generation has a very different image of what it means to prosper.

Traditional prosperity might have looked like growing a respectable career and saving up to retire early.

Gen Z disagrees. They rated work-life balance, being able to pursue hobbies, and the ability to give back as their drivers of prosperity.

Gen Z has a different relationship to moneythey want it to work for them not the other way around, the report concluded. 

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Could the secret to success lay in taking cold showers? Some celebrities and CEOs swear by it, claiming that the frigid temps help to clear their minds. In a 2021 tweet, Dwayne The Rock Johnson revealed he takes a cold shower every morning to help jumpstart his day, as well as combat inflammation and boost his metabolism. And hes not the only one. 

Billionaire Twitter founder and Square CEO, Jack Dorsey, not only wakes up at 5 a.m., he also starts his day with an ice-cold bath. WHOOP founder and CEO, Will Ahmed, told Fortune that cold showers and meditation are part of his morning routine. Meanwhile, Matteo Franceschetti, cofounder and CEO of Eight Sleep, swears by thermal shock as part of his nighttime routinestarting with a sauna or hot bath, followed by an ice bath or cold shower. 

But what does science say? As it turns out, there are real physical and mental benefits to starting your day with a cold shower, which is defined as a shower with a water temperature below 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here are three reasons why you might want to incorporate a cold shower into your daily routine:

Improve your physical health 

A study published in PLOS One showed that people who regularly took cold showers saw a 29% reduction in sickness-related absences from workthough it didnt reduce the number of days a person was sick. Another study noted that cold showers contribute to the improvement of the immune system, cardiovascular circulation and vitality, although proven associations remain unclear. There is also data that suggests showers may decrease inflammation, increase longevity, and improve your metabolism. 

Improve your mood

In a clinical trial, researchers found that taking a cold shower for up to five minutes once or twice daily can help relieve symptoms of depression. Cold showers can also help clear your mind and combat overwhelm by decreasing your heart rate. Short on time or already took your shower for the day? Splashing your face with cold water, taking a walk on a cold day, or holding an ice cube can also help, according to Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which is a type of psychotherapy especially designed for people who experience emotions intensely.

Increase your willpower

In Dr. Kelly McGonigals book, The Willpower Instinct, the health psychologist explains that doing uncomfortable activities, such as taking a cold shower, helps build willpower and the neural pathways that contribute to resilience.

Athlete Joel Runyon backs this theory up in his popular TED talk about Cold Shower Therapy.

After youve stared at the shower head and conquered the cold in the shower that morning, you begin to recognize that hesitation, he wrote in a blog post. You realize the hesitation you have when it comes to the project/business/workout is the exact same fear you see in the shower. And you realize youve already beaten it once that day and that the only way it can actually hurt you is by stopping you from doing what you need to do.

Getting started with cold showers

While cold water immersion is all the rage among athletes and influencers, such as the Dutch motivational speaker behind the popular Wim Hof Method, too much cold exposure can cause your blood pressure to drop.

If you want to give it a try experts recommend starting slow and smallby either gradually decreasing the temperature of your shower, or finishing your shower with a blast of cold water, as Dr. Dominic King, a sports medicine physician in the department of orthopaedic surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, previously told Fortune.

You can start by taking a cold five-minute shower and slowly work your way up to 10 minutes. Its also best to take a cold shower in the morning to set yourself up for success for the remainder of the day. 

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More than a decade ago, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was one of a handful of bankers to write to Congress warning them how terrible it would be to default on the countrys debt. Twelve years on and Moynihan has said that both he, and corporate leaders across America and around the world, must be prepared for the real possibility that it could finally happen.

Speaking on CNN This Morning, Moynihan said that although he is hoping his long-held fears wont come true, hope simply isnt a strategy.

Moynihans words come following weeks of Congressional bickering after the U.S. government hit its debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion on Jan. 19. Typically politicians will seek to raise this ceiling to alleviate the risk of defaulting on loans. However, with the Republicans recently taking control of the House of Representativesand demanding spending cutsit seems that the process will take longer than usual and could lead to an intentional default.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned of the self-inflicted calamity a default would inflict on the global economy, and of the dangers of linking an increase in the debt ceiling to cuts.

Other economists believe the debt ceiling is a farce that has little teeth to actually curb spending. Ray Dalio, billionaire investor and founder of the investment management giant Bridgewater Associates, wrote on LinkedIn that the cap is like a bunch of alcoholics who write laws to enforce drinking limits, and when a limit is reached, they do a farcical negotiation that temporarily eliminates the limit which allows them to have the next drinking binge until they reach the next limit at which time they go through the next farcical negotiation and continue to binge.

When asked whether or not the limit is worth it, Bank of Americas Moynihan voiced his belief in continuing to work within the parameters of the Constitution. Its a political process and theres got to be an argument about how we make sure we live within our means as a country and that arguments going to go on, he said. Congress has the purse strings, I would be careful about trying to restructure the U.S. Constitution. Its been around for 250 years almost, I think we should leave it alone and make sure it operates correctly.

The banking boss wasnt critical of the decisions which led to the ceiling being reached, adding, We had to put on a lot of debt over the past couple of years to overcome the pandemic drag on the economy. At some point weve got to figure out how that works in the future but right now weve got to get past the issues of just getting through the technical structure.

Rosier outlook

As the debt ceiling bickering continues in Congress, the current economic outlook appears rosier than expected by several key economic measures. Despite ongoing doom and gloom predictions from investment banks, economists, and billionaire investors, labor market data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released this month showed the unemployment rate fell to a 53-year low of 3.4%. A sure sign, Yellen added, that the economy is strong and resilient.

Moynihan was also buoyed by the news. Employment is one of the challenges for the Fed, he said, but the fact that unemployment had remained low despite the central bank raising rates was a sign the policy has had its desired effects without being detrimental to the economy.

And although the CEO is still predicting a mild recession, he added that the prospect of one is growing more distant. He was also sanguine about trade tensions with China, saying that the fear of a negative impact from a falling out between China and the U.S. would be key to getting people back in a room to ease tensions through negotiations.

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