Sports Gambling Is Still a Bad Bet

Where betting is legalized, lives are being destroyed.

07/31/26
John StonestreetandTimothy D Padgett


A recently released report shows a clear correlation between legalized gambling and gambling addiction. While this should surprise absolutely no one, there is further evidence that the explosion of legalized sports gambling was a bad idea.

In 2018, a Supreme Court decision cleared the way for states to legalize sports betting. Since then, according to the study shared by Epic Research, gambling disorders have risen by 61% in states that allow it but is down 29% in states that have not.

That’s a big spread, pun intended. The time frame is also significant. Only Nevada allowed sports gambling prior to 2018. Today, it is legal in 39 states and DC, though app-based gambling has made it ubiquitous. The results of this experience speak for themselves:

Of the overall population, adults aged 30 to 49 had the highest overall quarterly rate of diagnosed gambling disorder throughout the study period. . .. The largest proportional increase was among adults aged 18 to 29, whose rate more than doubled. Rates rose in both sexes and in every age group, but the male-to-female gap was substantially larger in adults under 50.

The math speaks for itself. For example, sports betting companies make enough to pay out a fortune in constant commercials while still raking in incredible profits. As of last year, gambling businesses have taken in around $300 billion, which is as much as China spends on its military each year.

The cost to consumers, however, is not only in the bet. According to a 2025 article by Charles Fain Lehman in The Atlantic, for every dollar spent on betting, household investing fell by an average of two dollars. The years since 2018 have been marked by large increases in over-drafted bank accounts and maxed-out credit cards. Legalized sports gambling has increased “the risk that a household goes bankrupt by 25 to 30 percent” and has caused debt delinquency to surge.  

The financial strain, in turn, worsens social pathologies. According to research cited by Lehman, an upset loss for an NFL home team correlates to a 10% spike in male domestic abuse. Overall, states with legalized sports gambling have seen an estimated 9% increase in “intimate-partner violence.”

As it turns out, it is possible to legislate morality, or, in this case, to legislate an increase in immorality. The legalization of sports gambling, and the general betting industrial complex, is a scourge on society, as if a highly contagious illness had a multi-billion-dollar PR campaign behind it. This is a cause for both the Left and the Right to get behind. Progressives would be hard pressed to find a better example of the rich getting richer on the backs of the poor. Conservatives have a horribly perfect example of the effects of moral decay and the corruption of domestic life.

Moral decline isn’t inevitable. Too many are convinced that things always go from bad to worse, so why try to turn the tide? Fighting the new normal, especially one with so much money and political power behind it, is an uphill battle. But Christians are commanded to love our neighbors. Sometimes that means giving to a local charity. Sometimes that means pressing leaders to ban what is destroying lives.

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Fitzgerald: Anti-casino clergy are minding their business

Photo by: Jacob Belcher

MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD: Father George Szal, S.M., foreground, pastor of Immaculate Conception church, and Pastor Nick Granitsas from First Congregational Church of Revere are opposed to a proposed casino in Revere.


Saturday, February 22, 2014


By: Joe Fitzgerald

This one’s for George Szal, who pastors Immaculate Conception Church, and for Rabbi Joseph Berman of Temple B’Nai Israel, and for Nick Granitsas, who shepherds The First Congregational Church, and for Imam Sherif Shabaka of the Egyptian Association, all Revere clergymen who have felt a moral imperative to oppose casino gambling in their city, warning of its toxic nature.

Bringing their ministries beyond the walls of the places they’ve been led to serve, they call gambling what it is, a disaster for many families.

They are indeed “noble souls,” a term that echoes from history.

In this month that celebrates black history, do you, too, wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. might think if he could peek in on what’s happening to our society today?

Much would please him, and much would likely break his heart.

But the guessing here is that he’d have looked upon Szal, Berman, Granitsas and Shabaka with great favor.

A third-generation Baptist preacher, King bemoaned the passivity of the clergy who act as if the answer to empty pews is to play it safe at the pulpit.

“I have wept over the laxity of the church,” he said. “I felt the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the south would be some of our strongest allies; instead, all too many have been more cautious than courageous, and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.

“I have heard so many ministers say, ‘Those are social issues with which the Gospel has no real concern.’ We are moving toward the exit of the twentieth century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a taillight behind other community agencies, rather than a headlight.

“I have looked at beautiful churches with lofty spires pointing heavenward and found myself wondering, ‘What kind of people worship here?’ The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent sanction of things as they are.”

Power structure? That sounds a lot like those carpet-bagging high-rollers now wishing the Revere clergy would mind its business, which is rather ironic. Do they not realize the business of the church is to be its brother’s keeper?

“I am thankful,” King went on, “that some noble souls have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity (and) left their secure congregations with the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”

He’d have found such noble souls in Revere this morning.


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Is America Less Moralistic Now, or Has Its Code Just Changed?

The new politics of gambling, marijuana, and other values issues
 

Conor Friedersdorf 

 

Nov 4 2013, 7:00 AM ET

 

Reuters

Are the American people more suspicious than they once were of moralism in public policy? So Ross Douthat argues in a column about legalized gambling and marijuana. The spread of casinos is driven by states seeking revenue and gaming lobbyists pressing their agenda, whereas weed legalization is driven by activists, "influenced by empathy for the terminally ill, and hastened by public exhaustion with the drug war," Douthat writes. "But both have been made possible by the same trend in American attitudes: the rise of a live-and-let-live social libertarianism, the weakening influence of both religious conservatism and liberal communitarianism, the growing suspicion of moralism in public policy."

It's a plausible theory, but the last line about moralism makes me want to quibble. Maybe Americans want public policy to reflect their moral judgments as much as ever, but they no longer regard smoking marijuana or casino gambling—or sodomy, gay marriage, or pornography consumption—as morally suspect. At the same time, maybe jurisdictions are implementing tough new laws in other areas—mandates to recycle, laws against dog-fighting, marital-rape statutes, trans-fat bans—because people still favor codifying their moral beliefs into law. Citizens don't harbor suspicion toward moralism so much as toward parts of traditional morality. On gambling, Gallup finds that 61 percent of Americans regard it as morally acceptable. Even if everyone who found casinos morally unacceptable voted to codify their moral judgment in law it wouldn't be sufficient to win the day.

There are, of course, small-government libertarians like Ron Paul who insist that the state ought to stay silent on certain matters even if they are in fact immoral. Perhaps that faction has grown in recent years.

What's definitely grown larger is the subset of Americans who not only disagree with the notion that gay marriage or smoking marijuana or watching pornography is immoral, but can't even understand the moral logic of traditionalists.

 

 

  

Reuters

On gay marriage, many would go so far as to say that it is immoral to prohibit same-sex unions. Their determination to moralistically press their advantage is why traditionalists like Rod Dreher now worry that cultural conservatives will be compelled by anti-discrimination law to participate.

Or take health care. Lots of Obamacare advocates insisted during the debate over the legislation that America has a moral imperative to provide coverage to the uninsured, and castigated opponents of the law as immoral people partly culpable for needless deaths.

Then there are areas of policy where the traditional morality of social conservatives squares with the moral beliefs of a substantial faction of reformers. Public opinion hasn't shifted on abortion like it has on gay marriage. On torture, orthodox Catholics and progressives are in substantial moral agreement. The country expresses opposition to pedophilia more moralistically now than ever. And on gun control and immigration reform, would-be reformers have made highly moralistic pitches to the public and are likely to keep doing so.

Traditionalists have seen their ability to control social norms decline precipitously in my lifetime, and given the way they conceive of moral behavior, you can see how, looking around, they'd conclude that moralism is dead.

I'm not so sure. I still see a lot of policy fights framed in highly moralistic language and arguments. And insofar as traditionalists are losing ground, it's often because what they regard as immoral strikes a majority as morally unobjectionable. 

 

 

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Vice Adm. Tim Giardina Fired as No. 2 Nuclear Commander

Oct. 9, 2013
By LUIS MARTINEZ




Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina is shown in a Nov. 11, 2011, photo. U.S. Navy


The No. 2 officer at U.S. Strategic Command has been relieved of command by President Obama because of a "loss of confidence" in his abilities to carry out his post.

Vice Adm. Tim Giardina has been the focus of a criminal investigation looking into his suspected use of counterfeit gambling chips in a poker game at a western Iowa casino.

StratCom commander Gen. Robert Kehler suspended Giardina from his duties as deputy commander on Sept. 3 and recommended to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that he be relieved from his post. Kehler's moves were guided by preliminary information he had received from investigations of Giardina's alleged activities.

A defense official said Wednesday that "based upon a recommendation from the Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, the president determined Oct. 3 that Vice Adm. Timothy M. Giardina, former Deputy Commander, U.S. Strategic Command (O-9), should be relieved."

President Obama became involved in the case because only the president can relieve a three- and four-star officer from his post.

Giardina has been reassigned to an undetermined position within the Navy.

The vice admiral remains under investigation by the Navy Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) which launched its own probe of Giardina after being contacted by Iowa authorities in mid-July.

David Dales, a special agent in charge with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), told ABC News in late September that his agency began an investigation this past June centered on the introduction of counterfeit poker chips in a poker game at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa. That city is located across the Missouri River from Omaha, Neb., which is near StratCom's headquarters.

Dales said the use of counterfeit chips is "pretty rare" and constituted "a Class D felony in the state of Iowa." Dale would not characterize the amount of chips used in the game, but described it as "a significant monetary amount."

He said his agency contacted StratCom "when we discovered the subject of the investigation that we had developed, and who that person was."

A source familiar with the case said Giardina was the subject of DCI's investigation.

Dale said the investigation is still open and no charges have been brought in the case, though DCI's investigation is pretty much complete. The county attorney has decided to hold off on charges for the moment and DCI is fully cooperating with the investigation being conducted by NCIS, he said.

Council Bluffs is home to three casinos that do the most gambling business in the state of Iowa. Horseshoe Council Bluffs Casino, run by Harrah's, is home to a greyhound race track and has table games and slot games inside a casino area.

A defense official said there is nothing to indicate there's been any compromise of StratCom's mission or classified material in the matter involving Giardina.

StratCom, based at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Neb., oversees the military's nuclear units and weapons.

Giardina was scheduled to leave StratCom later this year and his successor, Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, had already been nominated by the White House.


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Don't beat up on GG for casino approval, says pastor

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2009/s09060078.htm

Monday May 17, 2010

Don't beat up on GG for casino approval, says pastor
Published: Monday May 17, 2010



IN A bid to defuse simmering tension within the Seventh-day Adventist movement over King's House's approval of the Casino Gaming Act, a St Andrew pastor has warned members of the denomination not to expect the establishment of "an Adventist papacy" in Jamaica.

Pastor Lorenzo King, rector of Andrews Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church on the outskirts of New Kingston, cautioned congregants on Saturday that it would be improper for Sir Patrick Allen, immediate former head of the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventist Churches, to seek to impose his religious beliefs in the secular role as Jamaica's head of state. Theocracy, King said, would be contrary to the will of the people.

The issue of casino gaming has been a minefield in Jamaican society, with the majority of churches - including Adventists - denouncing it as immoral and evidence of deterioration of the island's work ethic. A few denominations, such as the Roman Catholic Church, do not outrightly condemn gambling, but draw the line if it promotes obsessive behaviour which jeopardises personal and family financial commitments.

The approval of the bill has paved the way for multimillion-dollar investments in the roll-out of casino-gaming lounges, particularly in the hotel sector.

Control emotions

King also urged Adventists to temper rage within the church's ranks that Sir Patrick had compromised his conscience and undermined Adventists' image by acceding to political expediency.

He said he knew of "Sunday Christians who are kinder and more understanding of the issues than we are. That is my belief, I have heard them, and they are not expressing themselves in the way that we express ourselves.

"I'm calling upon my brothers and sisters not to abandon what we believe, but to be moderate, be moderate in your expression. ... Remember that prayer changes things," he said in defence of his former boss.

"... I'm calling upon Seventh-day Adventists to show love, and even if a member has done wrong, we do not kill that member. ... It is uncharitable, it is unkind."

Sir Patrick was appointed governor general in 2009. It is largely viewed as a ceremonial post as governors general are expected to rubber-stamp government policy and endorse, as a matter of course, bills passed by legislators.

Adventists claim the largest share of denominational Christians in Jamaica, but are dwarfed in number when compared with doctrinally diverse adherents whose main day of worship is Sunday, as opposed to Saturday, the Adventist Sabbath.
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Source: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100517/business/business3.html
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Slot machine proceeds go toward charity

Xochitl Peña • the desert sun • April 2, 2010

Augustine Casino is in its second week of raising money for the Loma Linda Ronald McDonald House.

More than $11,000 has been raised so far to provide a home away from home for families of critically ill and injured children receiving treatment at the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital.

A portion of the proceeds from a bank of designated slot machines goes to the charity.

The casino is located at 84-001 Avenue 54.

Information: (760) 391-9500

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Fuente: http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100402/NEWS06/4020330

Note: Bolds and Highlights added.

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Ex-S.F. Arhcbishop Given 10-1 Odds Becoming Next Pope

By Matt Smith, Thursday, Mar. 25 2010 @ 3:15PM

What are the odds?

​The Irish bookie site Paddypower is laying down 3-to-1 odds Pope Benedict XVI will be ousted over accusations that he was behind misdeeds such as helping shield a priest who purportedly raped hundreds of deaf boys. But when God shuts a door, he opens a window -- and if a Pope is canned over a molestation scandal, he's got to be replaced. And Paddypower is giving former San Francisco archbishop William Levada a decent enough 10-1 shot of becoming the next pontiff.

And if protecting priests accused of child rape is an attribute befitting the vicar of Christ, Levada would seem like a natural for the papal gig.

SF Weekly has reported extensively about Levada's baroque efforts to obscure his machinations shielding priests from rape allegations.

In January, 2006, SF Weekly's Ron Russell reported that Levada apparently lied under oath to deny allegations that he'd paid hush money to victims of a priest accused of child rape:

Levada knew about allegations that the priest had abused not one but three male victims, and that Levada authorized secret payments to each of them after they threatened to make the allegations public in a lawsuit.

In July, 2005, Russell documented how Levada projected himself as a reformer on the issue of priestly sex abuse, even as victim advocates alleged he was shielding priests accused of rape. Levada even teamed up with an accused rapist to write church rules dealing with priests accused of rape.

In this ironic way, American bishops now follow a program for dealing with sex-abuse complaints that was significantly influenced by two men:

A Catholic priest and lawyer who has had two serious sexual-abuse cases filed against him -- one of which the church recently agreed to settle by paying an alleged victim $2.7 million ... And an archbishop who has helped shield the lawyer/priest for nine years -- and who has now been appointed to what many consider to be the Roman Catholic Church's second most powerful position.

Russell's ouvre of articles about Levada's creepy past make discomforting reading that's nonetheless necessary for those wishing to become informed Papal bettors. Our research indicates no pope has been removed from office since Gregory XII in 1415 -- the gig comes with some job security. But it is not altogether unprecedented for a pontiff to be deposed or resign; in fact, speculation was rampant the aging John Paul II would resign earlier this decade.

In the event of a papal opening, Levada is among the seven most "papable" cardinals, according to Paddypower. There are reasons to short-sell Levada, however: For one, elevating him to Pope would do little to quell the child rape scandals that plague the church.

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Source: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/03/irish_bookies_ex_sf_arhcbishop.php