WHAT WOULD YOU SAY: Is Sports Gambling Good or Bad?
(5:20 VIEWING) — Did you know there is a significant increase in domestic violence whenever a highly favored team loses an important game? Or that bad checks, maxed out credit cards and other indicators of risky financial decisions are significantly higher?
Promoters of sports gambling make it so attractive and handy (screenshot from YouTube).
Perhaps shockingly to some, the reality is this problem simply gets no coverage in the Mainstream Media, but the rise of sports gambling since it was re-legalized in 2018 has been a disaster for America in many respects.
As the latest edition of the Colson Center’s “What Would You Say” video series points out, there are hints here and there that some observers and commentators on contemporary American life are beginning to take notice.
And it’s not just because of the swelling number of games, especially in the NBA, in which there are incidents of player conduct that raise suspicions of connections to gambling.
Sports gambling is not a new thing, as evidenced by the Black Sox scandal of 1919 when members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of fixing a World Series. That was when sports gambling was illegal.
Now that it has been made legal again, the consequences are proving to be even more historic. As an Atlantic writer quoted in the following 5:20 video points out, the rise of sports gambling has been accompanied by “a wave of financial and familial misery:”
Gambling is like alcohol consumption; 90% of the population can handle it without problems. The 10% who can’t need help with their addiction. We tried Prohibition in the 1920’s and it led to organized crime syndicates. Better to have gambling legal and controlled by local governments. Some counties in America are dry and some aren’t. Some allow gambling some don’t. Gambling online can be outlawed but people who like to gamble will go to casinos. You can’t stop it. With the exceptions of stealing and murder we can’t legalize the 10 Commandments. God gave us free will. Some people destroy their lives because they can’t control themselves.
This topic really strikes a chord. Sports gambling carries both clear risks and tempting allure — it can be easy to get drawn in, especially with how normalized it’s become in media and culture. But the financial, emotional, and moral consequences often outweigh the short-term excitement. Thanks for sparking this conversation; it’s conversations like this that help people consider the deeper impact of their choices.
More insights here