Seven years ago this May 14, when the Supreme Court issued a ruling that allowed states to legalize sports betting, a New York Times news story speculated that, “The decision seems certain to result in profound changes to the nation’s relationship with sports wagering.”
And how.
Today, in 38 states, every fractional piece of a sporting event is subject to wagering, from whether a football team’s current drive will result in a touchdown or a punt, to whether a basketball player will score less than or above his or her seasonal average per game. And it all can be done with the convenience of a smartphone, utilizing legalized betting companies whose commercials seem to saturate many nationwide telecasts.
And how.
Today, in 38 states, every fractional piece of a sporting event is subject to wagering, from whether a football team’s current drive will result in a touchdown or a punt, to whether a basketball player will score less than or above his or her seasonal average per game. And it all can be done with the convenience of a smartphone, utilizing legalized betting companies whose commercials seem to saturate many nationwide telecasts.
Their ads try to make a fan’s allegiance to a team secondary to prizes that may, against long odds, be won.
Americans are awash in gambling, moving far beyond the sporting realm. There are few limits other than, as we learned this week, that it probably is illegal to gamble on who will become the next Pope. Such a thing exceeds the scope of laws that allow sports betting.
Decency and propriety aside, however, offshore gambling sites are happy to provide odds this week among the cardinals who have assembled to make that decision. It’s a practice that dates at least to the 16th century, some news sites noted. But do not confuse longevity with propriety.
Last fall, a U.S. district court ruled it is legal to wager on U.S. election outcomes. Similarly, that doesn’t mean it is good for democracy.
In 2024, the legal sports betting industry earned $13.71 billion in revenue in the United States, ESPN said, continuing the type of steady upward climb that disproves what the industry has always said — that legalizing it doesn’t create new gamblers as much as it just moves the ones who always were there out of the shadows.
Few people stop to think of what billions lost on wagers might otherwise have accomplished. As I’ve written before, this isn’t moralizing. Gambling produces no product that can be sold. It takes billions of hard-earned dollars from people who otherwise might spend or invest in things of value. Most importantly, it ruins lives.
At a panel in January, hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, UCLA’s Timothy Fong said what’s happening today is different from the kind of gambling in which humans have engaged for millennia, thanks to the internet.
The Harvard Gazette quoted Fong, the co-director of his school’s problem gambling studies program, saying it is, “not only endemic … it has changed the fabric of our bodies and our minds.”
On the same panel, the director of the Massachusetts Office of Problem Gambling Services,
Victor Ortiz, said, “Online gambling is a public health issue and requires a public health strategy.”
Other experts suggested federal efforts similar to what has been done regarding tobacco and cigarettes, including limits on advertising.
Researchers are coming late to this party, but they are beginning to uncover evidence of a growing national problem.
The Lancet Public Health Commission on gambling published a report last fall that said in part, “The harms associated with gambling are wide-ranging, affecting not only an individual's health and wellbeing, but also their wealth and relationships, families and communities, and deepening health and societal inequalities.” It called on governments and policymakers to treat it as a public health problem.
A study this year, published by JAMA Internal Medicine, found a profound increase in online searches for gambling-related disorders in states that have legalized sports wagering.
“What was once a taboo activity, confined to the fringes of society, has been completely normalized,” Matthew Allen, a third-year medical student, told UC San Diego Today.
And yet few are paying attention to the public health problem unfolding in front of our eyes.
States that haven’t legalized sports betting, such as Utah, California and Texas, did not see similar increases in searches for disorders. That alone ought to inform any lawmakers considering to vote in favor of legalization.
Back in pre-sports-betting 2014, an editorial in USA Today called states with legal gambling, “both addicts and pushers.”
“They throw temper tantrums and upset settled policy when their fix of gambling revenue runs low. And rather than compensating for the effects, they encourage their own citizens to gamble more and in different ways.”
Sports gambling only added to this problem. No, May 14 is not a date in Supreme Court history to celebrate.
Americans are awash in gambling, moving far beyond the sporting realm. There are few limits other than, as we learned this week, that it probably is illegal to gamble on who will become the next Pope. Such a thing exceeds the scope of laws that allow sports betting.
Decency and propriety aside, however, offshore gambling sites are happy to provide odds this week among the cardinals who have assembled to make that decision. It’s a practice that dates at least to the 16th century, some news sites noted. But do not confuse longevity with propriety.
Last fall, a U.S. district court ruled it is legal to wager on U.S. election outcomes. Similarly, that doesn’t mean it is good for democracy.
In 2024, the legal sports betting industry earned $13.71 billion in revenue in the United States, ESPN said, continuing the type of steady upward climb that disproves what the industry has always said — that legalizing it doesn’t create new gamblers as much as it just moves the ones who always were there out of the shadows.
Few people stop to think of what billions lost on wagers might otherwise have accomplished. As I’ve written before, this isn’t moralizing. Gambling produces no product that can be sold. It takes billions of hard-earned dollars from people who otherwise might spend or invest in things of value. Most importantly, it ruins lives.
At a panel in January, hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, UCLA’s Timothy Fong said what’s happening today is different from the kind of gambling in which humans have engaged for millennia, thanks to the internet.
The Harvard Gazette quoted Fong, the co-director of his school’s problem gambling studies program, saying it is, “not only endemic … it has changed the fabric of our bodies and our minds.”
On the same panel, the director of the Massachusetts Office of Problem Gambling Services,
Victor Ortiz, said, “Online gambling is a public health issue and requires a public health strategy.”
Other experts suggested federal efforts similar to what has been done regarding tobacco and cigarettes, including limits on advertising.
Researchers are coming late to this party, but they are beginning to uncover evidence of a growing national problem.
The Lancet Public Health Commission on gambling published a report last fall that said in part, “The harms associated with gambling are wide-ranging, affecting not only an individual's health and wellbeing, but also their wealth and relationships, families and communities, and deepening health and societal inequalities.” It called on governments and policymakers to treat it as a public health problem.
A study this year, published by JAMA Internal Medicine, found a profound increase in online searches for gambling-related disorders in states that have legalized sports wagering.
“What was once a taboo activity, confined to the fringes of society, has been completely normalized,” Matthew Allen, a third-year medical student, told UC San Diego Today.
And yet few are paying attention to the public health problem unfolding in front of our eyes.
States that haven’t legalized sports betting, such as Utah, California and Texas, did not see similar increases in searches for disorders. That alone ought to inform any lawmakers considering to vote in favor of legalization.
Back in pre-sports-betting 2014, an editorial in USA Today called states with legal gambling, “both addicts and pushers.”
“They throw temper tantrums and upset settled policy when their fix of gambling revenue runs low. And rather than compensating for the effects, they encourage their own citizens to gamble more and in different ways.”
Sports gambling only added to this problem. No, May 14 is not a date in Supreme Court history to celebrate.
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