A Year as a Degenerate Sports Gambler

Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

News, Society & Culture, Politics

4.3 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gambling is ever-present in America these days. After the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to legalized sports gambling, Americans went from legally betting $4.9 billion on sports in 2017 to at least $160 billion last year. When the Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins wanted to do a story about sports gambling, he and his editor thought, Why not try it himself? He had never really gambled before. What could go wrong? The magazine staked him $10,000 (partly a religious workaround) and sent him on his way. But over the course of the NFL season—and betting whenever and wherever he could—Coppins ended up getting (and losing) more than he bargained for. Read his full story here: "Sucker: My Year as a Degenerate Gambler." --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Last year, when Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins wanted to do a story about sports gambling,
0:11.3	he and his editor started out with the usual angles.
0:14.2	We ticked through all the obvious, you know, approaches, right?
0:17.8	Like you should talk to people who struggle with gambling addiction. You should talk
0:22.2	to the executives at the big online sports books. And then one of them had another idea.
0:28.0	I can't remember if it was my editor or me who first said, well, maybe you should try it a little
0:33.4	bit. Part of it is that because I was a sports fan, if you are a sports fan, if you watch sports
0:43.5	in the year 2026, you are just constantly bombarded with gambling advertising.
0:51.8	Drag games.
0:52.8	Now I know Super Bowl and all, but everyone gets a free bet.
0:56.0	Lay it all on tonight's game or kiss it goodbye.
0:58.0	Fanduels free pick'em game gives you more ways to win this fantasy season.
1:02.0	Agreed.
1:03.0	Every game you watch is just an onslaught of ads for online sports books.
1:08.0	Head to the Draft King Sportsbook app to claim your free bet now.
1:11.6	If you listen to sports podcasts like I do, all the sponsors are, you know,
1:16.5	Fandual Draft Kings.
1:17.8	The Bill Simmons podcast brought you by Fandual Sportsbook.
1:21.4	We are awesome.
1:21.9	And almost through like cultural osmosis, I started to pick up some of the kind of sports betting language,
1:29.6	you know?
1:30.6	Like I started to hear about point spreads and money lines so much that I was like, man,
	...

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