Is sports gambling morally safe? Don’t bet on it

We are in the midst of one of the sweetest spots in the sports calendar. College football has just finished its playoffs. College basketball is headed toward March Madness. The NBA and NHL are close to the All-Star break. We are mere weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. All of these play second fiddle, however, to the most watched, most-profitable enterprise of them all, the National Football League, which is gearing up for the Super Bowl on Sunday.

This means millions of sports fans like myself are watching live games, listening to sports podcasts, and checking favorite websites feverishly. And, since a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2018, fans are increasingly inundated with ads and sponsorships from gambling companies, such as DraftKings, FanDuel, and MGM. It’s nearly impossible to watch a single play without getting pitched the opportunity for a parlay or three-team tease. Some broadcast networks even enlist their commentators to help fans predict specific plays in the game or who will score the most points.

Sports betting has also overtaken sports commentary, with popular radio hosts and broadcasters offering their picks and guessing the lines for each game. There are even whole TV networks devoted to sports gambling. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in 2018, 36 states have legalized sports gambling, and at least three more are considering it. But, we should ask, is this morally healthy for those who engage in it?

The New York Times profiled with this dark side of sports, interviewing addicts in recovery from gambling. The stories are heartbreaking:

When I reached out last week to nearly a dozen people as old as 82 and as young as 17 in recovery for sports gambling addiction, I heard horror stories. They told me about shattered families, lost jobs and foreclosed homes. They spoke of arrests, convictions, jail time and suicide. I heard how dangerous this time of the year is: the end of the college football season, the N.F.L. playoffs, all the money that can be won on the Super Bowl, or, more likely, lost.

To be sure, not everyone who gambles on sports ends up in such despair, but too many do. According to The National Council on Problem Gambling, sports gambling results in even more addictive behavior than traditional activity in places like casinos and the lottery, due to the ubiquitous access and increased opportunity and the adrenaline of live events. Sixteen percent of sports gamblers showed a clinical criterion for gambling disorder. Mayo Clinic describes compulsive gambling as an “uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on your life. Gambling means that you're willing to risk something you value in the hope of getting something of even greater value.”

The wholesale embrace by sports leagues of legalized gambling is something that Christians should not ignore. Scripture warns that “wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it (Proverbs 13:11).” The lure of gambling preys on our love for competition and a sinful desire to love money (1 Timothy 6:10). The lie of the sports betting companies is that you only win if you play. But who is really winning? It’s not the end user, but the companies themselves. As the saying goes, “the house always wins.”

DraftKings and FanDuel and MGM are not in this out of a benevolent desire to make you rich, but out of a desire to enrich themselves, often at the expense of those who might sacrifice everything—family, livelihood, and health—to chase the next thrill. Christopher Caldwell, describes the need for these corporate entities to chase new customers, arguing that online sports betting has a structural problem: “It is a market that burns out its best customers, who are lost when they go bankrupt or start attending Gamblers Anonymous. Consequently new customers must constantly be groomed and recruited.”

Even those who might not fall pretty to a gambling addiction, who are privileged to have enough extra income to spend on a few wagers, are participating in an activity that enriches the gambling houses at the expense of the most vulnerable. Multiple studies show that gambling not only disproportionately preys on the poor, but it works to keep them in poverty. As John Piper says, to wager is to “fly in the face of how God intends for his creatures to use the resources he has entrusted to us.” Generosity is a much better indicator of spiritual health.

So as we approach the Super Bowl, as we enjoy the competition amongst our favorite teams, we should remember that wasting our money on the games is always a bad bet.