Has Legalizing Sports Gambling Become a Bad Bet?

Open to Debate

Education, Society & Culture, News, Government, Politics

4.5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sports fans can place bets on their favorite teams and athletes faster and easier than before, thanks to legalized sports gambling. But was it the wrong bet to make? Advocates say it’s been good for fans, the economy, and the sports industry. Those who say that what’s happened since legalization is a bad thing, say it’s driven a rise in gambling addiction and created a public health crisis. Now we debate: Has Legalizing Sports Gambling Become A Bad Bet? Arguing Yes: Harry Levant, Director of Gambling Policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute Arguing No: Bill Pascrell III, Partner at Princeton Public Affairs Group Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:31.2	Hi everybody. I'm John Donvan, moderator in chief are open to debate. And today we have a
0:35.5	fascinating debate that comes just in time for the Super Bowl,
0:39.2	not about football per se, but about another American pastime, sports betting, which is now legal in
0:45.4	more than half of U.S. states. But to what effect? That's the topic today. And I am delighted
0:51.1	to pass the torch for moderating this one. On to Naima Raza, an excellent journalist and one of our esteemed guest moderators.
0:57.8	She's also host of the forthcoming podcast called Smart Girl Dumb Questions.
1:02.9	Naima, on to you.
1:04.7	We are days away from the Super Bowl, and a lot is on the line.
1:08.5	I'm talking about tens of billions of dollars that are expected to be wagered on Super Bowl Sunday by tens of millions of Americans.
1:16.8	Today we're going to debate the question. Has legalizing sports betting become a bad bet? Since the 2018 Supreme Court decision throughout federal legislation that had heavily restricted sports betting, more than
1:28.4	$300 billion have been wagered in America. And you know this because we are all inundated with
1:34.4	sports betting ads, which themselves have become a billion dollar businesses, pulling on stars like
1:39.9	Kevin Hart. Everyone gets a free bet. Vince Vaughn. Everyone.
1:45.0	But Tom Brady.
1:46.6	Even Tom Brady. What did I do?
1:47.5	The message here, of course, is that if you bet, you too could win big.
1:52.5	But as we know, nobody wins without someone else losing.
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