“They fatten upon wretchedness, and have the effrontery to demand that the laws of the State shall be adapted to their purposes.” So said Charles Evans Hughes, Republican governor of New York, about Empire State gambling operators in 1908.
More than a century later, Hughes’ words ring true as the United States faces an explosion of legal online gambling.
Sports betting, decriminalized by the Supreme Court in 2018, has spread to 39 states. Online casinos, which include slots, blackjack, and more, are permitted in seven of those.
Americans now gamble roughly $1 billion a day on state-sanctioned apps like DraftKings and FanDuel — far more if one includes the lottery and meme-stock or crypto speculation.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post
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Isaac Rose-Berman is a professional sports bettor and fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men focused on gambling research and policy. This piece is adapted from City Journal.
Photo by Sean Gladwell/Getty Images
