House of cards

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 3rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Sports Betting. Back in 2018, the Supreme Court opened the door for legalized sports betting in all 50 states.

REICHARD: That case was Murphy v. NCAA. Ever since then, state lawmakers have tried to get part of that money pie. But at what cost? WORLD Senior Correspondent Kim Henderson brings us this report.

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: When sports gambling comes to a state, the ads do, too. Lots of them.

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Did you catch that bet amount? Single digits. David Cranford is a pastor in Louisiana, a state where gambling apps like DraftKings and FanDuel went live just last Friday. He says single digit bets are part of the problem, especially for college students.

CRANFORD: One of the attractive things about online sports betting is that I can bet $1 or $2 at a time. I can start very small. I can start at a place that fits my collegiate budget. I mean, we're all poor in college.

But for some people, gambling has an addictive power, just like alcohol or opiates.

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The United States Gambling Research Institute reports that problem gambling affects 7 percent of people in Louisiana.

CRANFORD: Like most addictions, the desire will not remain small. They'll not be able to stop increasing their bets and so you're going to wind up with college students who are absolutely addicted to gambling.

Being able to gamble with an app means betting has gone from back rooms to dorm rooms, even classrooms. Anywhere a gambler can glance at a phone or laptop. You can place a wager with the ease and privacy of a touch screen any time day or night.

Last year, Americans wagered more than $42 billion on sports as new legal markets went live.

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Students see and hear celebrities push gambling apps all the time. That’s the actor, Jamie Foxx. And here’s NFL Hall of Famer Drew Brees.

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But Brees also partners with Pray.com, a religious social media platform.

Will Hall says that’s confusing. Hall is director of Public Policy for Louisiana Baptists, and he fought against Louisiana’s new gambling laws alongside Pastor Cranford. He has little patience for those who hawk vice, whether it’s celebrities or legislators greedy for gambling revenue.

HALL: They're ignoring the negative impact on lives and on families. I don't know how—they've got some kind of blinders on. They just can't see. That's all I know.

Kathleen Benfield of Louisiana Family Forum works with Hall and Cranford to curb the gambling tide. She says their state is in deep.

BENFIELD: The gambling industry has replaced the oil and gas industry as the number one revenue generator for the state of Louisiana in terms of revenue, and budget . . .

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But gambling doesn't represent industriousness. Or an economic tool. Instead, it’s the lure of quick money without work, and somebody always loses. Benfield does believe Louisiana will hit the jackpot—in broken lives and families.

BENFIELD: Basically this is a house of cards that eventually is going to collapse. The churches are the ones that are there as the safety net catching the people . . .

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But even in states where sports betting isn’t legal, it’s still a problem. Lilly Ettinger is on staff at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she’s seen some students rack up six-figure gambling losses. She thinks part of the problem is that sports betting is “gamified.”

ETTINGER: It starts with kids playing loot boxes and online gaming and microtransactions. And it starts with really shiny pretty apps that make it look like a game and you don't realize how much money you're losing.

Her fellow staff member, Chaplain Dakota Henry, thinks students view gambling as a socially-approved vice.

DAKOTA: If you bet on a team, you know, you're showing team spirit. That's not sinful, like people don't think of it in any kind of overt way.

That’s how Liberty law student Dylan Craig sees it—like a social activity. He and his friends have a betting group chat.

CRAIG: There's always a guy putting something in the chat saying, ‘Hey, you know, I'm going to bet on this game today. I'm gonna put $10,’ and we're all like, ‘Okay, cool. We're going to ride with you. We'll do it too.’ That way, we all feel like a little community . . .

But the Bible is clear about the troubles that come when we fail to steward our money wisely. That’s why Pastor Cranford says parents need to educate their children about the trap of gambling, and he cautions them to avoid the appearance of evil.

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CRANFORD: Don't even go to these casinos to eat. Do not patronize them in any way, shape, or form, because even that sends a message to our children . . .

If statistics are right, 75 percent of college students have placed bets in the last year—according to the International Center for Responsible Gaming. That’s why Lilly Ettinger believes we’ve got to start talking about the implications of gambling.

ETTINGER: So that's the thing. Prevention. It's, you know, talking to your kids early, talking to your small groups at church early. You know, talk to your pastor about it. Like, when was the last time you heard a gambling sermon in your church. These are things prevention wise, we can talk about to have all of the knowledge of the potential consequences of these actions.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Hammond, Louisiana.

REICHARD: Kim also wrote about this for WORLD Magazine. You can find her report at wng.org.

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