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Commentary By Charles Fain Lehman

Legalizing Sports Gambling Was a Huge Mistake

Culture, Economics Culture & Society, Debt

The evidence is convincing: The betting industry is ruining lives.

Over the weekend, millions of Americans watched football. They cheered, they ate, and—more than ever—they gambled. The American Gaming Association expects $35 billion in bets to be placed on NFL games in 2024, about one-third more than last year’s total.

If you follow sports, gambling is everywhere. Ads for it are all over broadcasts; more than one in three Americans now bets on sports, according to a Seton Hall poll. Before 2018, sports gambling was prohibited almost everywhere. Now it’s legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia, yielding $10 billion a year in revenue.

Readers may be quick to dismiss these developments as harmless. Many sports fans enjoy betting on the game, they say. Is it such a big deal if they do it with a company rather than their friends?

Continue reading the entire piece here at The Atlantic (paywall)

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Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.

Photo by SEAN GLADWELL/Getty Images