SPORTS QUOTES

His partner knew he liked sports but had no idea the extent of his gambling. They would have explosive fights sometimes, which multiple family members said was very unlike him. His gambling set him constantly on edge, exacerbating the tensions in their relationship. Andrew was, by his own admission, living two lives, and he could not prevent one life from affecting the other.

Fundamentally, sportsbooks want to limit their own liability, not people’s gambling. They also reason that any restrictions will not actually stop the problem but will simply send bettors into the waiting, willing arms of a rival. If someone is going to gamble more than they can afford, it might as well be on their app.

Andrew missed two mortgage payments and the bank called his father, whose name remained on the title. His parents confronted him and, seven years after he placed his first bet, he confessed that he had a gambling problem. It came as a complete surprise. His mother said it felt “like we were hit by a truck.” For his father, the confession immediately explained so much of Andrew’s behavior the previous few years: his shabby clothes and beat-up car that seemed out of place for a young attorney, his isolation, his use of the family credit card for innocuous purchases, his moodiness, his encyclopedic knowl- edge of seemingly every sport, his addiction to his phone, and so on.

Calls to gambling hotlines have increased dramatically since states legalized sports betting. For the first time, many of these callers are young people. The director of a problem gambling resource center on Long Island notes that teenagers and twenty-somethings have become the “number one demographic” for gambling hotlines.

In most states, sports betting was the first form of legal internet gambling. But lawmakers did little to prepare the populace. Gambling can be harmless, provided the right safeguards and treatment options are in place. They are not. Most lawmakers are either oblivious to the harms from sports betting or have chosen to turn a blind eye.

The sports leagues and their gambling partners ... conspired with state governments to place what he calls a “landmine” in front of young people. Many of these young people will be able to avoid gambling or avoid incurring any harm from gambling. Many will not. Most do not realize how addictive it can be, how much attention, time, and money it can suck away. So they download the app onto their phone, eager to add some excitement to the games they love, not realizing this can be the start of a dangerous journey.

But this is my fucking life! My mom died and some reporter wanted a story.” I heaved for air. “And all I cared about was playing in some game. Like that was what mattered. She was dying, and I was mad. I’m still fucking pissed. Criminals survive every day. Murderers and rapists and lunatics. But not her.”
“Life, in all the years I’ve been living it, son, doesn’t make a lick of sense where that’s concerned.