Phil Hay

I recently saw someone bemoan the fact that not enough people related to sports are talking about the normalization of sports betting. I am not *in* sports, but I am *of* sports and therefore can (potentially) be trusted to give an objective take. Here's that take: I find the rise of phone-based sports betting abhorrent and disgusting. On the supply side: the companies offering these "services" know exactly what they're doing, using finely tuned algorithmic attacks to pick on people with few built-in defenses against a (potential) addiction that we've known to be trouble for thousands of years. On the demand side: the widescale adoption (and normalization) of sports betting illuminates a populace searching for something like meaning and instead finding overs, unders, depleted bank accounts, and sad Sunday nights. Sports betting was fine when it was confined to Las Vegas. If people wanted to lay down a bet on Alabama/Auburn in live time with their friends, OK. But what we've conjured into existence is a dance with a particular kind of devil, one whose animating spirit is greed. Sports teams, sports leagues, and sportsmen were all making plenty of money. This was not necessary. It will not end well. And the people it will (and has) hurt are those who can least afford it.