{"id":5606,"date":"2025-11-07T11:16:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/?p=5606"},"modified":"2025-11-10T09:29:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T14:29:38","slug":"is-gambling-killing-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2025\/11\/is-gambling-killing-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Gambling “Killing Sports”?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"House<\/a>
Is today\u2019s online gambling surge\u00a0 a risky house of cards for bettors? \/ free images @ pixabay.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

THE RELIGION GUY\u2019S ANSWER:<\/p>\n

America\u2019s $72 billion gambling industry is expanding and fast evolving. A New York Times<\/em> opinion piece November 2 was headlined \u201cGambling Is Killing Sports and Consuming America.\u201d See https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/28\/opinion\/sports-gambling-major-leagues.html\/<\/a>. Joon Lee proceeded to describe and lament the explosion of easily accessible online betting through heavily advertised sites like DraftKings and FanDuel allied with professional sports.<\/p>\n

The headline on a simultaneous New Yorker<\/em> piece by Danny Funt decried \u201cThe Sports Betting Disaster.\u201d See https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/the-lede\/the-sports-betting-disaster\/<\/a>. In January, Funt releases a book titled \u201cEverybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling.\u201d He depicts the more addictive move into 24\/7 online \u201cprop\u201d bets on what might happen moment to moment during a game, and \u201cparlays\u201d stacking multiple possibilities. Basketball agent Danial Haran tells him that props, now the biggest money-maker, especially tempt athletes with chances to manipulate games.<\/p>\n

On October 23, one of the worst sports scandals erupted since the White Sox threw the 1919 World Series. The FBI charged more than 30 defendants in a scheme where three organized crime families allegedly tapped National Basketball Association conspirators for inside information, and used star athletes to lure high rollers to fixed poker games. Then two Cleveland baseball pitchers were hit with similar charges.<\/p>\n

November 22 Showdown<\/h4>\n

There\u2019s an upcoming showdown in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which through 119 years enforced absolute bars to sports betting. One day before the basketball scandal hit, the NCAA announced a momentous decision allowing players and coaches to bet on professional games but not college games. In the ensuing uproar, some collegians demanded that this change be rescinded, with the final decision coming November 22. Also, this week the NCAA banished six basketball players at three universities for fixing games or giving bettors inside information.<\/p>\n

Gambling expanded dramatically after the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s 2018 Murphy<\/em> ruling to abolish federal law against sports gambling, leaving states free to legalize it. That in turn inspired \u201cprediction markets,\u201d dominated by Kalshi (founded in 2018) and Polymarket (in 2020), which won crucial court approval last year. Instead of sports, bettors guess other future outcomes such as stock averages, verdicts in court cases, government numbers, even the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Some think betting on election outcomes might supplant polls.<\/p>\n

Enthusiasm comes from the top. President Donald Trump supercharged matters October 28 when his Truth Social announced a partnership with crypto.com in its new Truth Predict market. Donald Trump Jr. is investing in and advising prediction markets. The President\u2019s interest in the gambling industry is longstanding. He was formerly a major player in casino developments and lost big, as recounted at www.casino.org\/blog\/trump-casino\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pleasurable personal bets or office pools have always accompanied athletics, but till recently professional leagues saw organized betting as a serious threat to games\u2019 credibility, for good reason. A March Sacred Heart University poll showed 61% of Americans are \u201csomewhat\u201d or \u201cvery concerned\u201d about gambling\u2019s risk of sports corruption. Last month, Pew Research reported that 43% of Americans think legal sports betting is bad for society and 40% that it\u2019s bad for sports.<\/p>\n

Industry\u2019s \u201cHammerlock\u201d<\/h4>\n

Lee examined the ways leagues, teams and the sports media are thoroughly enmeshed with the gambling industry. The NFL, NBA, and MLB \u201cnow have direct financial stakes in the infrastructure of sports betting\u201d and the sports media promote it daily. The system \u201crewards corruption\u201d and erodes public trust, he believes. Just this week, Disney\u2019s ESPN network switched its online betting partnership, worth some $2 billion, to DraftKings, promising to \u201csuper-serve passionate sports fans.\u201d Lee says gambling interests hold a \u201chammerlock\u201d on sports and are \u201cin charge, and everyone knows it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another pressing issue is obsessive \u201cproblem gamblers\u201d who can destroy their family finances and careers. James Whelan, director of the Institute for Gambling Education and Research at the University of Memphis, says an estimated 2 to 4 million Americans are afflicted with \u201cgambling disorder,\u201d and another 5 to 9 million suffer troubles but do not require psychiatric intervention. The situation could be worsening. JAMA Internal Medicine<\/em> reported last February that online searches for help with gambling increased 23% during the betting upsurge between 2018 and 2024.<\/p>\n

Alongside the vigorous discussion of all the above, history records substantial moral opposition from religions. Regarding the Bible, a March posting by biblestudyforyou.com cited 30 verses said to oppose gambling, but these cover related matters like greed or neglect of God. The Bible contains no explicit commandment against wagering.<\/p>\n

But practical moral effects have long roused absolute opposition, notably from Protestants, including their two largest U.S. denominations. In June, the Southern Baptist Convention for the first time added sports betting to its concerns. A resolution denounced \u201cthe promotion and normalization of this predatory industry\u201d with \u201cdeep concern regarding its detrimental impact on individuals, families, and communities.\u201d It saw\u00a0 \u201ca culture of greed while specifically exploiting and preying upon young adults, the impoverished, and those with addictive personality traits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cA Form of Idolatry\u201d<\/h4>\n

Last year, the United Methodist Church for the fifth time reaffirmed its 1980 policy statement. It states, \u201cGambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, and destructive of good government. Gambling feeds on human greed and invites persons to place their trust in possessions rather than in God. It represents a form of idolatry.\u201d Gaining money \u201cby chance and at the neighbor\u2019s expense, is a menace to personal character and social morality.\u201d Commercial gambling \u201cis a threat to business, breeds crime and poverty, and is destructive to the interests of good government.\u201d Methodists are asked to shun even raffles, lotteries, Bingo, or door prizes.<\/p>\n

Unlike Protestant prohibitions, the Catholic Church is tolerant, as symbolized by parish Bingo fund-raisers, but raises concerns. A typical summary at catholiceducation.org says that entertaining games of chance such as betting, card games, or lotteries are not intrinsically evil. But games must be fair, and participants need to protect family finances, control passions, and avoid addiction. \u201cWhile everyone enjoys winning, the motive for playing the game should be one of pleasure rather than of gain.\u201d The church\u2019s current Code of Canon Law (#285) directs priests to avoid all things which are \u201cunbecoming\u201d or \u201calien\u201d to their status, but omits wording in the 1917 edition that specified habitual or high-stakes gambling.<\/p>\n

In Judaism, the ancient Talmud (Sanhedrin 24b) considers the winner of a bet a \u201crobber\u201d taking money from others \u201cthat is not legally his.\u201d In practice, the religion has been tolerant, especially with raffles and lotteries interpreted as charitable donations. However, Orthodoxy\u2019s Rabbinical Council of America calls upon \u201cJewish communal institutions not to use gambling as a fundraising vehicle.\u201d A rabbinical ruling in Judaism\u2019s liberal Reform branch said \u201cit is one thing to accept human frailty, but another to approve [gambling] or to encourage it\u201d through synagogue fund-raising.<\/p>\n

A strict prohibition, however, is found in Islam\u2019s holy book, the Quran, which links the sin of gambling (maysir<\/em> or qimar<\/em>) with idolatry against the true God and the faith\u2019s well-known prohibition on alcoholic beverages (2:219; 5:90-91). An explanation at islamqa.info says gambling \u201cmakes a person rely on accidents, luck and wishful thinking\u201d for income instead of \u201chard work,\u201d \u201cdestroys families,\u201d \u201cbreeds hatred,\u201d and \u201cleads to crime, suicide, insanity, and chronic illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: Problem gamblers can get help at 1-800-522-4700 and https:\/\/gamblersanonymous.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE RELIGION GUY\u2019S ANSWER: America\u2019s $72 billion gambling industry is expanding and fast evolving. A New York Times opinion piece November 2 was headlined \u201cGambling Is Killing Sports and Consuming America.\u201d See https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/28\/opinion\/sports-gambling-major-leagues.html\/. Joon Lee proceeded to describe and lament the explosion of easily accessible online betting through heavily advertised sites like DraftKings and FanDuel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1275,"featured_media":5612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[854,857,845,851,860,848],"class_list":["post-5606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-college-gambling","tag-family-bankruptcy","tag-gambling","tag-nba-scandal","tag-ncaa-and-gambling","tag-sports-gambling"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Gambling "Killing Sports"?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE RELIGION GUY\u2019S ANSWER: America\u2019s $72 billion gambling industry is expanding and fast evolving. 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