Featured Photo by Joe Calomeni.
Super Bowl Sunday was one of the worst days of the year for those victimized by the gambling industry, and the NFL’s recent embrace of internet gambling is partly to blame. It’s estimated nearly $1.5 billion was “legally” wagered on the Super Bowl last month. The easy availability of smartphone gambling apps and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to promote individualized betting have vastly expanded this vice far beyond the limited horse racing of a generation ago.
Young adults, particularly young men, are the biggest victims according to a survey released a few months ago by Fairleigh Dickinson University. It found that 10% of men and 7% of women between ages 18 and 30 have a gambling addiction today. Gambling causes suicides and cognitive disorders even more than other addictions, including substance abuse. A study in Sweden found that gamblers were 15 times more likely to commit suicide than the overall population. College basketball is particularly vulnerable to corruption by gambling, as players desperate for income can alter their performance to enable gamblers to win big by betting on aspects of a game. ESPN reported in February that three college basketball programs are under a federal investigation into gambling rings.
Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court opened the floodgates to sports gambling in 2018, the sums wagered have increased. Missouri, through a ballot initiative, will soon join the 38 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, that allow sports betting. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit may even allow gambling on election outcomes, in a case that was argued on January 17 captioned KalshiEX v. CFTC. The plaintiff seeks to offer trading in political event futures contracts, which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission so far prohibits under its interpretation of a federal statute.
Congress could and should prohibit sports betting and it has the authority to do so under the Commerce Clause. Nearly a dozen states so far have prohibited sports betting as well, and more should follow suit.
