A Genuine Problem

That we went from "gambling is a thing you can do in Vegas, and then a few other places" to "bet the farm using your phone" in a few short years is a problem!

The Supreme Court unleashed this craze in 2018, ruling in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association that federal prohibitions against states legalizing sports betting were unconstitutional. Eight years later, 40 states and the District of Columbia have allowed some type of online gambling. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that gambling was the second-highest service-sector industry for GDP growth between 2019 and 2024, behind only software publishing.

I used to think limited sports betting was relatively healthy (relatively), in that there was a time lapse between "pushing the button" and the result. No constant hamster treat rush like slots or similar. But that was before gambling on your phone, the immense variety of parlay bets partial game betting, and half of sports coverage being devoted to gambling.