By India McCarty
Finance expert and radio personality Dave Ramsey alerted people to the dangers of “evil” online sports betting apps like DraftKings and FanDuel.
“It is the most addictive freaking thing I’ve ever seen,” Ramsey said in a December podcast episode. “The number of people coming into our financial counselors around America, sitting down with Ramsey counselors, that their entire lives have been destroyed by this [stuff] is unbelievable. It’s the fastest growing addiction in America — faster than cocaine, faster than drugs of any kind, faster even than porn, and porn is a really huge problem as well.”
He called it “the fastest growing addiction” in America, particularly when it comes to young men in their 20s.
Related: People Seek Help for Gambling Addiction Following Normalization of Sports Betting
“I’m seeing [people] lose marriages. I’m seeing them lose jobs. I’m seeing them bankrupted,” Ramsey explained. “We’re seeing just sad, sad, sad stories, and nobody’s talking about it — everybody’s walking around grinning like betting on football is a wonderful thing. It’s not.”
He continued, “They’re making billions of dollars at it, and at the cost of an entire generation being screwed over…This is evil, straight up evil. It’s greed, and it’s out of control.”
Gambling on sports had long been illegal, but a 2018 Supreme Court decision has led to the legalization of sports betting in 39 states, as well as Washington D.C.
“Online sports gambling is a fundamentally different and more dangerous product than ever could have been imagined,” gambling therapist Harry Levant said at a Congressional hearing.
He explained to CBS News that the apps’ business models are made off of “people who are gambling the most,” adding, “When a person’s account has gone to zero, the gambling companies offer them, ‘If you redeposit right now, we’ll give you 50% additional credits to continue gambling with. You’ve already lost money. Put more money in, and we’ll give you some credits to chase your losses.’ It’s called a ‘reload bonus.’ They seem very sinister. They seem very purposeful. They seem designed to keep you in action.”
Dr. Jared A. Pincin, an associate professor of economics at Cedarville University, also warned against the effects online gambling can have.
“Sports gambling has become gamification,” he explained. “These apps look and feel like mobile games, blurring the line between entertainment and financial risk. They hook younger users — those who tend to take the most risks.”
As sports betting becomes more accessible to young people, it’s more important than ever to be mindful of the dangers that come from gambling.
Read Next: Teen Gambling Increases As More States Legalize Sports Betting
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