It’s been seven years since the Supreme Court deregulated sports gambling and every year since, the amount of cash changing hands over games grows. A few days before Sunday’s Super Bowl, the American Gaming Association predicted that about $1.39 billion dollars would be gambled on that single event. But, for those who use any of the online platforms and apps to place bets, it’s not a single event. Gamblers can bet on almost any aspect of the game: score, score per quarter, first touchdown, who would be selected MVP, which team would win the coin toss, etc. One rather detailed New York Times article explained that one could even wager on the length of Jon Batiste’s rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. 

Sports gambling went from illegal to fully integrated at remarkable speed. Both ESPN and Sports Illustrated now have their own betting apps, and the different possible bets, missed spreads, and predictions are now nightly features on SportsCenter and other programs. In other words, sports reporters now report on the odds as if they were describing the game itself. In every way possible, gambling is now “part of the game.”  

And as every red-blooded male old enough to have a job can attest, logging on to any social media platform such as X or YouTube means being bombarded with sports gambling ads, often featuring celebrities, top athletes, and easy first steps for easy wins. The fact that so many gambling sites sound like drug dealers offering “first one for free” deals should tell us something. 

Gambling corrupts pretty much everything it touches, and sports gambling is no different. A few days ago, a lawyer argued somewhat convincingly on X that the surprising trade of NBA superstar Luka Dončić to the Lakers may have had more to do with gambling calculations than basketball calculations. Given that no other explanation for that decision makes sense, the fact that the gambling conspiracy is at least believable should be noted. After all, the many apps and institutions profiting off of the legalization and widespread availability of sports gambling wouldn’t spend that much money on commercials, A-list celebrities, and targeted social media campaigns because they lose bets. Sports gambling is just like casinos and the lottery: the “house” always wins. 

And like other forms of gambling, sports gambling is especially harmful to those least able to endure it.  An article last year in The Atlantic, stated the truth bluntly: “Legalizing Sports Gambling Was a Huge Mistake.” The author, Charles Faith Lehman, wrote that the return of sports gambling “has caused a wave of financial and familial misery” that “disproportionately falls on the most economically precarious households.” In other words, those who have the least money to lose do the vast majority of the losing. In fact, in addition to debt delinquency and bankruptcy, the data shows that there is a greater chance of domestic abuse in homes where gambling is common. One study even found that “an NFL home team’s upset loss causes a 10 percent increase in reported incidents of men being violent toward their partner.” 

  Also, despite regulations, safeguards, and age limits, teens and young adults are clearly targeted by gambling advertisements. Of the 1,132 “social casino” games analyzed in an Axios study, nearly 98% had an age rating of 12+ or lower. As any high school coach will tell you, the same kind of thing is happening with sports gambling sites. And it makes sense. These apps need to secure a long-term customer base, and young people are particularly vulnerable to the false promise of immediate gratification. Even more, young people today are vulnerable, because they are a demographic that has largely lost sight of the meaning of work.  

Made in God’s image, it is among the worst human impulses to seek something for nothing, to gain profit without contributing labor in service to God and our neighbors. As David Bahnsen wrote:  

[I]n the marketplace, where most people spend most of their time, there is an opportunity for incredible cultural conquest and influence. And I believe that we have to understand, creationally, why God made us for that higher calling. 

In fact, the culture-wide loss of calling is what adequately explains just how quickly sports gambling has gone from illegal to integrated in American life. The flashy promises are particularly enticing to those who don’t know who or why they were made to be. Work is a created good, not a result of the Fall. Thus, work should not be avoided for some workaround like gambling. As Bahnsen describes in his excellent book Full Time, work is inherently connected to the meaning of life.  

That’s why there are no shortcuts to wealth or to meaning. Get a copy of David Bahnsen’s book Full Time: Work and the Meaning of Life, with a gift of any amount to the Colson Center this month.  Visit colsoncenter.org/February.