ALL MONEY AIN'T GOOD MONEY

The current exponential proliferation of legal gambling preys on Black and brown people in unseen ways

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CONFESSION: I'VE LONG LOVED THE LEXICON OF A DICE game going down on a street corner or in the basement of an after-hours spot or in the parking lot of a strip club or, an eon ago, in the halls of my high school: "Fever in the funkhouse, and I'm looking for a fin... Nina Ross the new boss... Box cars... Lil Joe out the back door...Six, eight running mates. Seven come eleven... Aces... Snake eyes... Mama need clothes. Baby need new shoes... Taking all side bets... Bet it back."

Have also loved the sound of dice knocking in a dude's fist, a dude blowing on dice for luck with flair, the pop of the finger snap that stressed each roll.

But as much as neighborhood craps games enamored me, I was not even during my days as a denizen of the underground economy-a frequent participant in them. For one, it's been hard to convince myself that the odds would ever favor me. For two, I'd often witness somebody who didn't know when to quit and took a big-ass L. For three, the bigger dice games became a risk.

My days in the orbit of a dice game come strong to mind when I watch a game or a sports show today, damn hard to do without Kevin Hart and LeBron lending their ethos to DraftKings. Without Jamie Foxx shilling for BetMGM. Without Stephen A. Smith doing the bidding of ESPN Bet. That's ditto for sports gurus touting the spread or a parlay or offering prognostications about the odds on their shows. To say nothing of the shows dedicated to talking overs and unders. Sports betting is now legal in 38 states. And business is beyond booming, as Americans bet $119.84 billion on sports in 2023, helping to generate a record-high $66.5 billion in revenue for Big Gambling, including $10.9 billion from sports betting alone.