Did you know Oklahoma ranks in the top 10 in the United States in many key categories? We are ranked 5^th in the U.S. for beef production. We are ranked in the top 5 in energy production and 7^th in wind energy production.

Sadly, Oklahoma is also ranked 6^th in the nation when it comes to gambling addiction, with the second most gambling machines per capita, according to research published in The Oklahoman.

Indeed, Oklahoma is truly a gambling hotspot in this nation. To compound matters, the State of Oklahoma’s lawmakers are on the brink of approving sports betting in our state.

Sports betting is, of course, not new, as it has become a ubiquitous part of professional sports and other levels of spectator sports. Our understanding of sports betting addictions, though, is only now being understood.

A recent Newsweek article called “Sports Betting Hurts American Men” quoted author Charles Fain Lehman, who said, “The rise of sports gambling has caused a wave of financial and familial misery, one that falls disproportionately on the most economically precarious households.”

Sports betting is particularly alluring to young men, with some research showing that three out of every four students are gambling. Thus, the face of sports betting addiction is that of a lonely young man on his digital device, risking money he cannot afford to lose, in a vicious cycle of addiction.

Young men like Malek, whose sports addiction was catalogued in a recent news article online.

“It was a total warping of my mind,” said Malek. “I know what I’m doing. This is easy, this is great.” However, $10 bets became $100 wagers, which quickly morphed into stakes involving thousands of dollars. “When I really started losing and chasing the losses, I had an awareness that it was uncomfortable,” admitted Malek. “But I think I was in such a mode of trying to solve everything that I didn’t see it as really much of a problem.”

There are millions of others like Malek, addicted to sports gambling—an addiction which has been linked to a rise in anxiety, bankruptcies and, most disturbingly, even a rise in domestic violence.

In this recent Baptist Messenger podcast discussion, two Oklahoma pastors talk about the moral, economic and social costs that sports gambling has. They explain how sports betting is even tainting sports and sports competition itself.

While policy makers are being told the move would bring tax revenue to the state, the reality is that taxes of this nature always over-promise and under-perform. Think of the 2004 approval of the lottery, how it was marketed as a cure-all for our schools and has fallen woefully short of those promises. Moreover, sports betting has not been the tax boom it was promised in some states who have already legalized it, or it has come at a higher social cost than first was imagined.

The people pushing for sports betting in Oklahoma are not bad. But they are making a bad bet, one that will have devastating social and personal consequences for individuals, families, and communities, as well as further erode our moral reputation as a state.

For these reasons and more, Oklahomans should not ignore the high cost of legalized gambling; we should reject the further expansion of gambling. After all, sometimes you just need to know when to fold ‘em.