Has Legalizing Sports Gambling Become A Bad Bet?

Open to Debate

Education, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2026

⏱️ 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 Nayeema Raza, Journalist and Host of "Smart Girl Dumb Questions", is the guest moderator. Join the conversation on Substack—share your perspective on this episode and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for curated insights from our debaters, moderators, and staff. Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and TikTok to stay connected with our mission and ongoing debates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Listen, I'm not a huge gambler. I do the grids, you know, at the local bar. I like to go to the casino itself, but I'm not a digital gambler at all. It's interesting. I've yet to meet a gambling industry executive who actually partakes in online gambling.
0:33.5	Hi, everybody. I'm John Donvan, moderator for Open to Debate. March Madness is here. That's when college basketball teams compete fiercely in a weeks-long tournament that is watched by millions of
0:39.4	people on national television. Maybe you have filled out a bracket and have a favor to win. Maybe your
0:44.4	favorite is your home state school. Maybe you even have a few bucks on the game. Well, if you do,
0:50.7	you're not alone. More than $3 billion is expected to be wagered on March Madness
0:55.6	by tens of millions of Americans over the run of this tournament. And in light of that, we are
1:01.4	revisiting one of our favorite debates from last year, which was about sports gambling. I am delighted
1:07.2	to pass the torch for moderating this one onto my colleague and friend Naima Reza.
1:12.0	Naima is an excellent journalist and one of our esteemed guest moderators.
1:15.7	She is also host of the podcast, Smart Girl, Dumb Questions, which I recommend.
1:21.5	Naima, over to you.
1:23.5	Today we're going to debate the question.
1:25.4	Has legalizing sports betting become a bad bet?
1:29.2	Since the 2018 Supreme Court decision throughout federal legislation that had heavily restricted sports betting, more than $300 billion have been wagered in America.
1:38.6	And you know this because we are all inundated with sports betting ads, which themselves have become a billion-dollar businesses,
1:45.9	pulling on stars like Kevin Hart.
1:47.8	Everyone gets a free bet.
1:49.3	Vince Vaughn.
1:50.2	Everyone.
1:51.4	But Tom Brady.
1:52.8	Even Tom Brady.
1:53.7	What did I do?
	...

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