We tried a free-for-all in sports betting. It’s a fiasco

Countless young men are glued to their phones, obsessing over point spreads and barreling toward financial ruin

- JOSH HAMMER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

JUSTIN SULLIVAN Getty Images PLATFORMS such as Draft Kings have made gambling more accessible than ever before.

IN 2018, THE U.S. Supreme Court decided Murphy vs. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. A fractured court, led by a conservative majority, held that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, signed into law in the final months of the George H.W. Bush presidency, was unconstitutional.

The practical effect of the Murphy decision was that sports gambling, the legal practice of which had been mostly confined to Nevada casinos, became ubiquitous in short order. A few weeks after the court's decision, Delaware became the first state other than Nevada to legalize sports gambling. Today, sports gambling is legal in 39 states plus Washington, D.C. And it’s noticeable: It has become almost impossible to watch a football game or scroll through social media without being assaulted by the seductive advertisements of the sports gambling industry.

Much like our failed social experiment in marijuana, which commenced in earnest with Colorado’s decision to legalize recreational use in 2012, America’s experiment in legalized sports gambling has not gone well. On the contrary, it has been nothing short of disastrous for our nation’s moral fabric and the legions of financially vulnerable Americans who fall prey to the industry's temptations.