So, here's some data -- not anecdote.
Sports betting is bad news.
"Now comes more systematic research to quantify these troubling impacts. Researchers from UCLA and the University of Southern California published a paper this summer in which they examined credit scores, credit card balances, loan delinquency rates and other detailed financial data for roughly 7 million Americans. Using this information, they were able to contrast the experience of individuals in various states before and after they adopted legal sports gambling.
The findings provide cause for concern: The average credit score in states that legalized sports betting decreased by 0.3 percent — and by one percent, three times the average, in states that allow online sports betting. These might seem like small shifts, but they represent averages for entire state populations. This implies that a relatively small group of intensive users — “problem gamblers” — are suffering major damage to their credit scores, dragging down the overall average. Financial institutions in those states responded to the reduced creditworthiness of their consumers by lowering available credit limits, they found. The results were larger for young men from lower-income counties in those states. Meanwhile, states that legalized sports betting saw significant increases in bankruptcy filing rates and debt collections. Debt consolidation loans went up 8 percent by dollar value, and auto loan delinquencies increased 9 percent."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... it-scores/
I guess we shouldn't expect much from a bunch of sheep...
"In many states, gambling treatment centers are woefully underfunded even as the betting industry brings in billions of dollars. Montana stands out as one state that provides no taxpayer money for gambling addiction. The Montana Council on Problem Gambling is funded through donations, including from the gambling industry."
"There is nothing more difficult and more dangerous to carry through than initiating changes. One makes enemies of those who prospered under the old order, and only lukewarm support from those who would prosper under the new."