Sports gambling needs to be restricted

At this time in 2022, I was pro-online sports gambling. I wanted the ability to make small money bets. I enjoyed traveling to New York or Pennsylvania and being able to bet on teams and players I like. I followed Georgia’s progress (or lack thereof)in legalizing online sports gambling.

Online sports gambling would be all upside for me. I know I’d never bet more than I could afford to lose. Betting $1 is more fun for me than betting $100,000 because I can afford to lose the $1; the thrill is from making a prediction and seeing the result.

I changed my mind on this somewhere in the past couple of years. I now believe that unrestricted online sports gambling is a bad idea and we shouldn’t allow it. Many people aren’t like me and the costs to them and their families outweighs whatever fun I can have.

The Zvi has done a great job at cataloging the negative impacts: large increases in bankruptcy and domestic violence; large decreases in household savings all related to the expansion of online sports gambling. Expanding access to this addictive activity causes more people to get addicted and the consequences for them are catastrophic. At this level of cost, it isn’t worth it for me to be able to put $3 on SGA for NBA MVP. [0]

At minimum, we should be restricting access and possibly even preventing the maximum amount that an individual is able to lose — and making gaming companies liable if they go above that amount.

[0] Plus I can substitute with Manifold Markets, which is a prediction market where you can bet with free points is a great substitute for me. I just like being able to make the bets!

2024-11-15