The arrests of over 30 people – including an N.B.A. player and a head coach – in October 2025 over allegations involving insider bets on basketball games and poker games rigged by Mafia families should be the last straw.

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It was one thing when sports gambling was limited to office break rooms, local bars, and college frat houses, but things rapidly changed after the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association struck down a federal sports gambling ban and, as a result, states started legalizing it. Today, some form of sports betting is available in 38 states plus the District of Columbia, and placing bets by simply hitting a button on your phone is easier than ever.

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Somehow, we went from Pete Rose being banned from baseball for life for betting his team would win to sports teams embedding logos and rosters into video games in exchange for millions of dollars and sports leagues now having direct financial stakes in ancillary sports betting companies to N.B.A. player Terry Rozier limping off the basketball court early due to “foot discomfort” so that allegedly his childhood friend Deniro Laster, and whoever else, could become rich.

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Americans bet nearly $150 billion on sports in 2024. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Americans who participated in a Seton Hall University survey say they have placed a bet sometime in their life and, for self-described “avid” fans, that number is 60 percent. A Siena Research Institute poll found half of all men aged 18-49 have active online sports betting accounts. You can bet on practically anything now – including the outcome of presidential and congressional elections, whether aliens will be confirmed to exist by the end of 2025, and even who Taylor Swift’s maid-of-honor is going to be.

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The negative consequences of this are becoming difficult to ignore. According to a 2025 U.S. News & World Report survey, one-quarter of sports bettors say they have been unable to pay a bill because of wagers they have made; 30 percent say they have debts because of gambling; over 15 percent say they have taken out a personal loan to pay for gambling debts; and one-quarter of them worry that they can’t control their gambling.

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Sports betting is also becoming increasingly damaging to – and unsafe for – athletes, 21 percent of whom have been verbally abused either in person or online by people who place bets… to the point where “we call ourselves zoo animals,” Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito has said. Giolito reports that not only have bettors threatened him, they have also told him he should commit suicide.

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But perhaps the saddest thing of all is that gambling is slowly corroding the fun and carefreeness of America’s favorite pastimes – at a time when we need them the most. Our enjoyment and camaraderie are being screwed with by The House. And The House always wins.

Although almost 53 percent of Americans support legalization of sports gambling nationwide – and 59 percent support it in their own state – six in ten are now concerned that legalized sports gambling could likely encourage corruption in sports.

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There are ways to mitigate the damage of sports betting without banning it. We can restrict gambling ads before, during and after games; ban bets on individual player performance; and, on gambling apps, ban VIP programs, make it harder to place bets, and crack down on “loot boxes,” a form of monetization where players spend money to blindly purchase packs of random virtual items, hoping to be rewarded with ones of great value.