The fact that universities have taken sports betting advertising and even sending shit to their students is straight up criminal. that should absolutely not be allowed.

As someone who's had very serious trouble with online gambling in the past: Never gamble. I don't care if it's for $5 or $500. Anyone can be sucked in too deep. Literally anybody. Please be careful if you do.

It's absolutely mind blowing to me that politicians receiving gifts from corporations is not considered grounds for dismissal and criminal prosecution. That is the biggest factor compromising democracy in the modern day. Why do we accept it?

I was an addiction counsellor for a few years and gambling addiction is always the most nefarious. You get a dopamine spike whether you win or lose, its accessible at all times, becoming more socially acceptable and very very easy to hide early on. Between the brain activity that occurs, with the gamification on our phones, lack of seriousness the public lends it, and no similar symptoms to other addictions (withdrawals/smelling like drug) it will absolutely turn into a big problem down the road.

There is an Australian UKpostsr called Friendly Jordies, who posted an interview with a whistle-blower explaining how ClubsNSW (a major gambling company here) uses slot machines to allow for money laundering by the black market. Friendly Jordies is now facing jail time for "defaming" ClubsNSW. This is the first time that I've ever seen any journalist in Australia being prosecuted for posting a video, and it's kinda scary how powerful the gambling industry truly is here.

I’m glad you covered Australia. It’s an absolute horror. My dad is a lifetime gambling addict. Never had any food in the house but plenty of money to spend on the dogs, the horses or the pokies.

I live in one of the US states with largely legalized gambling, and I work in risk at a local credit union. It's not a rare occurrence that the algorithm flags an account for fraud due to repeat transactions, and when I take a look, someone has written multiple checks to a casino in one night or repeatedly hit their ATM limit trying to play more. I've seen normal people, making normal money in an expensive town, lose over $50,000 in a month just at local bars and casinos. I generally believe adults should be able to do what they like with their life, but I can't understand how computer algorithms designed to extract as much money from someone are legal.

This is such a brilliant episode. I had no idea that gambling was so restricted in the US. Here in the UK there are literally thousands of betting shops, in every town, and the online casinos through app stores are destroying lives whilst creating offshore non taxable income for their owners. Timely, well researched and provoking.

Gambling in Australia is so ingrained into the culture. It's almost impossible to convince many people that it's a problem. I tried to talk to one uncle about it and he accused me of being un-Australian. Entering the lottery and betting on sports is a central part of many people's routines and daily lives.

I'm an Australian, the other day I said to my work colleagues that I didn't want to buy into the lotto, only to be accused of being un-Australian and having all my coworkers try and peer pressure me into buying into gambling. It is crazy how natural it is here. A lot of smaller parties and newer politicians are trying to start anti gambling laws but are having no success with it.

My mom was a highly awarded school teacher for 40+ years. She was a daily Champion on Jeopardy TV show. She still doesn’t and never drank but once she moved to Arkansas near casinos in Oklahoma she gambled away Everything on slot machines. She is back teaching at 83 to avoid homelessness. She is one of the smartest nicest people you can meet. I run into people all the time who Love her and she changed their lives in positive ways but she very sadly lost my dad and her retirement because of legal gambling. I’m trying to help her but it’s very difficult. Thank you for making this video 😢

I’m a money laundering investigator for a bank. I’ve seen people lose ridiculous amounts of money through sports betting while looking through transaction histories. It’s really sad.

As an Australian I was sitting here listening to the American experience thinking "man that's nothing compared to what we have here". Then BAM, Australia being named and shamed haha

When I took my first statistics course at university the lecturer used gambling games to illustrate the main concepts. We started with coin tosses, moved on to one and then two dice roles, and then roulette probabilities. In EVERY case the house had an edge - basically the longer you played the more money you were going to loose. One statistician even described gambling as a voluntary tax paid by people who don't understand statistics!

As an Aussie who follows American sports, I’ve seen the change happening and despaired. Americans sadly do not yet know the horror that they have unleashed upon their country.

I actually worked in the Crown Melbourne casino while I lived in Australia. That experience was honestly shocking. I worked in FOH in the Food & Beverage department and would get called into any one of the 80+ different restaurants/bars. These would be anything from casual buffets to 5-star fine-dining. Some were directly on the gaming floor while others had street access. Crown wasn't just a casino, it had everything from family restaurants, clubs, cocktail bars, massive banquet halls and even 3 hotels, so people of all ages would be around you, many not even there for the gambling. Regardless of why you were there, you'd always be pretty close to the gaming floor, and it was the star of the show. On the regular gaming floor, I worked the booze carts, offering refreshments to anyone who wanted some buy while playing (many folks a good few drinks in). But I also worked in many of the VIP lounges, these would be open to players with certian levels of spend, and included countless comped items. The higher the spend, the better the perks. Some lounges with have full steak dinners, with premium booze. The shocking thing was that people would literally spend DAYS at the same machine. And when I worked at other venues on the main gaming floor, you would see people crying or looking devistated at 3AM, eating the cheapest comped meal. Sometimes you'd struck up conversations with guests, and you'd realize how far gone they were. Shit like 'you came with my drink at exactly <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="213">3:33</a>, that's good luck'. We were trained for these situations, but it was still incredibly jarring. After working there, I had no desire to ever gamble.

Inducements are so crazy to me: winning 1k that can’t be withdrawn is basically built to get you addicted.

An Australian youtuber (look him up, Friendlyjordies) was covering the story of a gambling industry insider who had turned whistleblower, calling out some alleged illegal activity by the gambling lobby know as clubs NSW. Both the whistleblower and Friendlyjordies had private criminal action taken against them. Friendlyjordies also had his house firebombed but that is not necessarily related. But the industry is so powerful that when they are caught doing the illegal thing, the person who catches them finds themselves in legal trouble.

In California, the sports betting app companies put Proposition 27 on the ballot, which would legalize betting apps (while advertising how the tax revenue would help fund affordable housing-itself a huge issue in CA). The advertising blitz was horrific. Had this video come out in July, at least two "yes on 27" ads would have played (there was another rival proposition, proposition 26, that expanded existing sports betting). Prop 27 would go on to lose by one of the biggest margins of defeat-ever (80% voted no). They actually realized this in September and stopped running ads. Is this going to stop them? No-they're going to try again. CA is too big a market to ignore.

I'm fortunate enough to never have had gambling problems but I cannot imagine how hard it must be for somebody trying to quit having all this pro-gambling advertising and messaging shoved down their throats whenever sports are on. It's really awful.

My fathers sports gambling addiction got so bad my parents couldn't pay the mortgage and lost the house. My mother divorced him, took me and my siblings with her and we lived in poverty for years. Fortunatly my father stopped betting and got his life back together but not before his addiction broke my family. We have since reconciled but It has left me we a fear and distain for gambaling. In the last decade this problem with gambling (especially mobile) has become so much worse, I dread to think how many more people have or will have an experience like ours. Never gamble, if you think "that wouldn't happen to me" you are the easiest mark there is. Gambling companies are predators, you are the pray. And lets not ignore the prevalence of gambling mechanics in video games, Completely unregulated and aimed at the youngest people priming them for mobile gambling addiction as adults.

I am a recovering gambling addict. I got to the point where I had no money but was still using credit cards to gamble. I was ignoring the losses and bragging about the wins… you know… addict stuff. I put myself on my states do not play list but that didn’t stop me from going across state lines on longer trips to gamble. I went a while without doing any gambling but after covid I decided to go to Vegas. One Vegas trip turned into a second Vegas trip 2 weeks later since I won some money on the first one. The second Vegas trip snowballed into me driving casinos in different states again. I quit again this year and have been doing pretty well with staying out of the casinos. The house always wins… you’re better off spending what you were planning to spend in the casino on an impulse purchase. At least that way you’ll have something to show for it.

This is one of the best videos you’ve ever made. I lived in Australia for a year and saw this in person. The pubs in Queensland, for instance, are almost exclusively owned by woolworths, typically include a family restaurant, a pub, a night club, and a bottle shop. But you can’t get from one part of the venue to another without walking by the pokies. For most, they will put $20 or $50 in and try to pay for dinner. But there is a significant minority that will spend $500/night on the pokies and never come out ahead. They fill the room with scents of baby powder to comfort the players, and keep the lights constant and low so there is the perpetual feeling of evening. All while hypnotizing lights and sounds go off to keep people sitting down and playing. There have been successful business owners who have killed themselves because they took on too much debt from the pokies. I could go on much longer about this, but needless to say, this is a huge problem and I wouldn’t like to see it duplicated elsewhere.

This video really nailed some of the issues we have here in Australia with pokies being so prevalent. The issue almost took down a former government of ours who tried to go up against the gambling lobby with some fairly modest reforms around betting limits. In New South Wales, which has around half the machines in the country, pokies are EVERYWHERE. Heaps of pubs have them, and regulations around pubs not being able to advertise their presence has created the odd euphemism of "VIP Rooms". Great video and I hope it draws more attention to the situation here.

Never been a gambler and I’m absolutely surprised how much sports gambling is being pushed

my family played card games since my sister and i were little, my parents routinely destroyed us and took our allowance money without mercy. and they always said after we lost our last dollar bill for the night, this is what gambling is like, if you play, be prepared to lose everything we developed a very negative view on gambling needless to say lol

I've been worried about betting apps having increasingly more ads on tv. I'm from Argentina, where football is pretty much a religion, and we have gone from having traditionally 1 betting system nation-wide, with little to not advertising, to at least 5 international apps getting constant ads during this last WC. And the target demographic was what bothered me the most. Same as in Australia, they're aiming to low-income groups, several offering certain free money for their first bet under the same conditions, you can use it but not withdraw it. "The hope of a better future, engineered to line someone else's pockets". I read that yesterday, and instantly kicked me back to those thoughts.

As an Australian I am very glad that you made this. The gambling lobby is incredibly powerful here, and they regularly exert this to protect themselves. Over the last few years they have been shown to be deeply complicit in incredibly serious organised crime, as well as indirectly allowing money to flow off shore to fund drug cartels, terrorists and industrial child sexual abuse. Despite this they barely take a hit in the media, and politicians who are willing to speak up are routinely attacked. As a young man with two psychologists for parents, I have both seen and heard of the wreckage that this stuff can unleash in people's lives. I deeply hope that the US doesn't follow our lead on this!

Aussie here, my two stories of the pokies: - Large pub in my relatively small country town had its pokies stolen in the mid 2000's (rumoured to be an inside job) closed it's doors less than a year later. - My mate works at a venue that holds it's liquor license till only 2am. However, the venue stays till 6am for you guessed it: the pokies Poker machines literally are the venue at many establishments across Aus, the bar is in many cases a mere attachment. I knew Aus had a gambling issue but this video put it into perspective

Really great video! You put into words that which I've struggled to tell my friends for years. Gambling really is a lot like substances, just like you said. From personal experience and family issues I've always avoided addictive substances/choices as I've seen far too many people fall down that rabbit hole. Yet so many people are falling into betting without even considering comparing it to something else. My cousin has kids, I love him and his whole family dearly. Over Thanksgiving I was talking to his son about his fantasy football team (he's about 11). Usually that subject would bring me joy, talking to a young lad about football, lineups, strategy, etc. But it really brought me down. I kept thinking, "you're way too young to be doing this" and that fantasy football was the "gateway drug" for spets betting. It felt so fast that sports betting became integrated in sports but I do fear it has gone too far, especially when considering our youthful audience.

Was turned off of your vids for a few months, came back and found you've improved! Thanks mate, quality content

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New Jersey resident here, Chris Christie pushed so hard for the Sports gambling. It was insane. He gave two public statements within a week or so of each other, one was "we have to abide by the federal government's rulings when it comes to marijuana legalization, regardless of what the public wants" and the other was "WE'RE GONNA MAKE SPORTS GAMBLING REAL AND I DON'T CARE WHAT THE FEDS SAY ABOUT IT!" I still think about this constantly, you expect that sort of thing in politics, but it's still very funny to see it in such stark contrast.

Interesting that in California propositions to allow sports betting on reservations were defeated by huge margins.

A friend of mine grew up in a household with someone with a gambling problem, he only mentioned it once but I could tell it was traumatizing, suffered a lot of no fault of his own and destroyed his family.

Watching those old people just rotting their final years away at those machines, eyes glued to the screen, it kind of haunts you doesn't it.

This makes me SO fucking sad… When I was only 15 years old I developed a crippling gambling addiction through CS:GO skin betting, it was brand new and completely unregulated at the time. I nearly dropped out of school and had multiple suicide attempts because of the money (my parents money) I was losing. Finally after years of hiding it and making excuses my family found out the extent of my problem and got me help, after a long time and a couple of relapses I was health again by the age of 17. I was extremely encouraged by the direction things were heading, video game gambling had become visible to the public eye and thus got heavy regulation, and beyond that America seemed to have a somewhat health relationship with gambling as a whole and then sports betting took off… I am proud to say I have not bet once or even really thought of it since I turned 18 and online gambling become legal in my state but I’ve watched many friends fall into the same trap that got me when I was younger but they are now adults without any parents to “save” them from themselves. Gambling is an extremely serious, addictive problem that NEEDS to be much more heavily regulated, when it’s accessible whenever you want it from the convenience of your phone it is just plain evil.

It's wild, I'm about to turn 30 and growing up gambling and betting on sports was very much underground, kinda shady almost. Now odds are displayed in the pregame, half time, post game, and ads are every few minutes. Goddamn KEVIN HART, Jamie Fox, Drew Brees telling me to just place bets and how much fun it is! It's insane. I don't think it's a coincidence you have a lot of clips from Chicago broadcasts, it's unbelievably pervasive here. Also we have ads for Illinois Lottery app, it has slots and shit on there. It's honestly disgusting. I cannot imagine how many people are becoming addicted to gambling, I'm glad I never got into it

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if sometime in the near future, the professional sports industry was rocked by a massive betting scandal that involved the coaches, the teams’ owners, the players and referees where it’s discovered games are deliberately thrown so that betters obtain illegally gotten gains in the form of massive payouts. This isn’t a question of if it’s going to happen, only a question of when. Greed is running rampant in 21st century society.

As a poker player it's hilarious that sportsbetting is being normalized, legalized and claimed to be skill.

The "pokies" you're talking about are starting to run rampant here in the US too. My dad calls them "ding-ding machines." All of a sudden in the past few years there's a new breed of convenience stores popping up in rural areas that don't even bother investing in gas pumps to bring people inside. Kind of like how a few years back when a business would shut down and the building would reopen a few months later as a title pawn place. Now they reopen as ding-ding huts. And when are the most cars out in front of the building? The days when people get their social security checks.

One of the issues of betting on sports is that punters think they can "beat" the sportsbook because of their amazing sports knowledge. But that almost never translates to a good understanding of odds. These companies have models which can very accurately predict the true odds of a result, and then reduce those odds before offering them to punters. I say this as a sportsbook operator. Don't bet.

It always amazes me how well reserched and put together your videos are

Some of your videos have been hit and miss but this one is great. Thanks for shedding light on a dark underreported issue.

As someone who lives in Australia, I had absolutely no idea that Australia’s gambling was the worst in the world. I grew up watching my parents go and play a pokie machine whilst we were at a restaurant for dinner. I put my first bed on a sports game on an app the day I turned 18, nearly 10 years ago. It’s so ingrained in society it’s scary.

I'm from Australia and I'm glad that Sam covered our gambling problem; it's a scourge on Australian society! One thing he didn't mention though is that the state of Western Australia doesn't allow pokies anywhere except for in the only casino in the state, Crown Casino. As such, WA has the lowest expenditure on gambling per capita out of all the states in Australia. Though Western Australians still spend a considerable amount of money on sports betting and lottery tickets...

i first learned about sports betting when i joined a college fraternity, and let me say.. i was ASTOUNDED at how much money people were willing to lose over it. im glad i never got that bug

The UK and Japan also have this problem. Gambling dens are everywhere, mostly next to bars. Pachinko has a death grip on the eldey Japanese, and those parlors are full 24/7.

Im so thankful you mentioned Australias gambling problems. As a kid i would see nonstop ads on the television. And now they have just been getting worse and laws really need to be done to stop this. Im no gambler and never will be but i see the huge problems this causes

I remember getting the absolute worst whiplash with this when I was talking to my friend and he was heavily sweating a bet he had on a college football game between Florida State and Duquesne… like the prospect of actually worrying about a week 0 game that will mean nothing long term was insane to me. I love sports with every fiber of my being and I deeply hate how much of the industry has been consumed by gambling and how it’s made my friends into gambling addicts without them realizing it. I’m fine with it being legal but we DESPERATELY need stronger regulatory bodies that do more than wag their fingers when these companies flagrantly violate their rules.

In the UK we have small gambling shops such as Ladbrokes or Paddy power and I always say you can tell how wealthy a area is by how many of these shops you pass, the more gambling shops the worse of the area

I live in the UK. So many of my friends (male, mid 30s) have multiple gambling apps on there phones. Putting on a football accumulator (parlay) is a saturday tradition. I will occasionally have a bet, but I deliberately have travel into town to the bookies and put it on in person. Not having an app has possibly saved me £1000s in the past 10 years

Don't look now but Wendover is becoming one of the best destinations for journalism anywhere.

During the last election California had two ballot measures which would have expanded gambling options in the state. Both were rejected by pretty large margins. My inner optimist that this is a sign that the state might buck the trend, but my inner cynic say this will only be a temporary setback that the gambling companies will ultimately get around.

I am so glad I spent several years in Vegas as a kid, helped me gain an annoyance at gambling games/companies which compounds the lesson my parents gave me of “Don’t gamble”.

Canada too, especially in Ontario where advertisements for such were given more leeway. <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="200">3:20</a> History and origins. <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="480">8:00</a> Proliferation. <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="825">13:45</a> Losses and locations. <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1165">19:25</a> Public relations.

It was both sickening and hilarious to see how quickly laws to legalize gambling were overturned, but things that have needed addressing for decades like infrastructure and education are still mired in red tape. Really made me rethink about the kind of place I'm living in.

As someone from the UK we have the same issue as Australia mentioned in this video, and gambling is literally everywhere in sport; almost every team, every sport radio, when port is on tv is just constant gambling adverts. It truly is a plague, especially when it's so common to cripple people's lives

The animation quality and production value of these videos is outstanding.

Time and time again - the absence of a ban on lobbying creates exploitation and social misery.

As a 52-year-old man I've noticed changes in my lifetime. I can remember a government public service film from the 1950s talking about the importance of savings. Now, they don't want you to save, they need you in debt. There were practical and moral objections to gambling. Now, it's treated as entertainment. Throw in the legalization of some drugs, and I realize that just in my lifetime.. things that were not okay are now very okay.. and why? Money. Nothing more than money.

Mate, you're spot on about Australia. The damn pokies are everywhere! From my house, I have a 10 min walk to a couple different pubs that both have heaps of slot machines with people playing away at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="600">10:00</a> on a Thursday. This is in a lower income Melbourne suburb.

Good video, thanks for making and uploading. The ad that came on UKposts at the end was for a Daniel Negreanu Poker Masterclass interestingly enough. (I actually like his style - I'm interested in poker, though I almost never play, and would never actually bet on it. I've watched a number of tournaments on UKposts, and he seems like a likable fellow. Not that I'm signing up for the Masterclass!)

The supreme court ruling wasn't that the federal govt. couldn't regulate gambling, it was that it couldn't make special exceptions for Nevada, New Jersey, and a couple other states, but make it illegal for other states. It was either all legal or all illegal and there was no chance of a federal law shutting down Vegas getting passed.

I'm really glad you covered Australia, Sam. I live in West Aus, and the physical gambling isn't that bad here. The only place with access to the pokies here is in the Crown Cassino. However, it is within a stone's throw of the city centre. WA put legislation in place long before I was born that prevented pubs and bars from installing and owning pokie machines. Online betting is absolutely atrocious, though. Every time I watch TV or UKposts now, I see ads for Sportsbet or Tab Touch or some other betting company, and I'm always baffled by the fact that it's not illegal.

No matter what the subject is, Wendover manages to produce the most fluid, natural commentary… I ADORE your content, and simply can’t take my eyes off once I’ve clicked on a video. Keep at it man…

Brilliant important reportage/content.

Please consider making a video explaining the logistics issue behind southwest's massive flight cancellation during the holidays. Should be a great topic!

Same here in Europe. You can't watch a sports event without betting advertising being rammed in your face

Grew up across the street from a bus stop that only picked up and dropped off people once a month. It shuttled people to and from Reno Nevada. It operated the weekend after the first of the month. After older folks got their retirement check. I will never forget the faces of those people exiting the bus. Needless to say, I have never been one with a gambling problem.

I was at a bar the other night. 3 TVs on 3 separate sports channels. One going over college basketball props, one going over all of the offerings for the Super Bowl, and the 3rd covering (no pun) over/unders for the slate of NBA games that night. Used to be pre-game talk about stats, coaches' strategies, and injury reports. Now it's just lines spreads and over/unders.

Was literally about to download one of those apps, thank you.

There seems to be quite an uptick in NFL refs blowing calls or being very flag happy in certain matchups which Vegas had listed as high scoring.

The fact that these companies in the Netherlands (who act the same) are all government companies is simply staggering

as an australian i can’t help but remember how there used to be a supermarket opposite the primary school i went to (kinda low income area)…which they replaced with some small-ish casino when i was in grade 1 or 2. my mum would drop me off and wait for the bus to go to work, all while seeing many of my classmates mums cross the road to gamble

Here on Brazil, Sports betting used loopholes as "Guessing the Result" online games to put theyselfes on Brazil, nowadays the sports broadcasting is filled with Betting ads and Last year, on our football/soccer league, it had 3 RIVAL betting companiess sponsoring ad boards on same game and an ACTUAL U-20 where some players dont have even 18 are being sponsored by a Betting Parlor that literally has "Luck" on its name implying that the betting house isnt about skill

As sinister as this sports betting trend is, at least only adults are allowed to do it. Microtransactions in games specifically target minors and people with addiction problems. Honestly, when this generation who grew up opening loot boxes in Overwatch and CoD comes into their financial prime is when the gambling industry will truly explode... Man, I should invest in a gambling company...

It’s becoming a nightmare here in Canada, Ontario has legalized it and I have been getting tons of sports betting ads despite how they could ruin my life

Gday mate, im from perth. Love the content!

When sports betting became legal in Ohio this year, I saw NOTHING BUT ads for FanDuel, Draft Kings, etc.

Once the pivot happened, college and NFL pundits and broadcasting companies alike started pushing sports betting like CRAZY . Whereas just months before they couldn't mutter a word about sports gambling. I feel for anyone who loves sports but also has a gambling problem...must be a nightmare

Props to Sam for pronouncing Brisbane the right way. Also to add, the new casino will be Brisbane's second casino, the first casino being 2 blocks away. The state government practically encourages people to go too. All pubs/clubs aren't allowed to let patrons in after a certain time (2am I believe), the exception is the casino. So after having a night out, many people will head to the casino to finish the night as its the only place left to go. In regards to pokies/slot machines. Theres is basically always a machine within 10 minute walk from you. Its actually a problem for retirees as they often don't have anything to do so they'll go "down to the local" and put some money in. They've been integrated into our society for decades. They were an integral part of turning Rugby League into a major professional sport in Australia and many clubs still rely on the money made from the machines.

Your point about it being a destination, not a convenience, is very true, which makes it disappointing that a new casino was just built just 5 minutes north of Boston, with transit access. Not to mention sports betting was legalized just this year

I remember being at the Grand Final for the NRL in Sydney, and they were literally putting up the Odds for the game on the big screens, and had on site TABs for people to make bets. I was flabbergasted.

I live in a subburb of Las Vegas. There are slot machines everywhere in Nevada. The airports, gas stations, grocery stores... They are so ubiquitous that they become part of the background (at least for those of us with zero interest in gambling).

As a father of a 6 year old, Im not at all happy that sports broadcasts and sports media is now dominated by sports betting ads with broadcast commentary actually working betting metrics into their discussions. Our kids are going to grow up with sports gambling being the social normal, and I'm not ok with that.

Late to the party, but this is a great video. When I drive through Phoenix now, all billboards fall into one of three categories: personal injury lawyers, weed dispensaries, and sports betting. It's everywhere.

Gambling is so well ingrained into Aussie society that in my new community, (Greenfield, newbuilt) a pub/ bistro was just built and opened. The Pokies and sports bar (sports betting area) were opened before the rest of the pub was even finished. pretty crazy

Australian here. When I was a kid we had a bit of an eccentric teacher who let us run our own casino in the classroom. I think he got pushback because we couldn't call it a "casino" but I reckon I've put about $20 through gambling in my entire adult life. God damn if it wasn't effective, at least for me. I also don't think I've ever seen my folks gamble. It's also hard to overstate the prevalence of gambling ads in Australia. I have real concern about what kids are picking up. I fear that this is going to be as transmissible a problem across generations as alcoholism or DV.

I watch Wendover every week as you release new videos. This one didn't show up on my home page for over 4 days after release... interesting

I'm a tax accountant, I see the lives ruined by gambling. I see retired millwrights selling their houses and moving into apartments in their 70s. I see attorneys and doctors working from Sunrise till midnight 7 days a week, just trying to stay out of repossession or utility shutoff.

My mom is a divorce lawyer and many clients went from hobby gambling to life destroying gambling in under a year. Even if you can control the habit now, its so easy for the habit to spiral out of control when times are tougher.

What's kind of eerie, is I stopped watching sports in the US a few years back right as Draft Kings and Fan Duel were becoming ascendant. I had no idea how bad this got. This was eye opening.

I'm a football fan (soccer, as you US citizens like to call it) and it's baffling to me how this industry of betting has blown up here in South America for football. Betting in football (and subsequently in sports) has always been a thing but nothing as overwhelming as it is today. Just 10 to 8 years ago, bwin was the main major betting site/platform that I remember seeing often in football, through commercials or sponsorships, especially because it was one of Real Madrid's sponsors, one of the biggest club names in football, but that was it. Maybe I'm missing another betting site/platform from those years that had a big exposure as bwin but they can be counted with the fingers of one hand. However, nowadays commercial breaks between a match are filled with many betting sites/platforms, one after another, non-stop, and even many of the commercials displayed at the stadium's electronic boards are about betting. It went from a niche thing to see to being bombarded with it at every moment. And it's something that I started to be concerned about because, different from other things, like Coca-Cola for example for which you need to get out of your house in order to acquire the product, is that you can download the betting app in just few seconds, sign up and start betting right away, and even during the match, which of course hooks people even more. So far I haven't fallen into that rabbit hole because I don't really care about betting, I just want to enjoy the event itself and nothing else, but I feel like this betting obsession in general is making sports less enjoyable every time. I try to not think about it too much but people nowadays just care about the results more than ever because it can earn them money fast and "easy" but don't actually care about the event itself. I could go on a bit more but I don't want to write an essay here but in essence, the sports betting industry is something that is taking over many places and the US just happens to be one of them (if not the firestarter) and companies are taking advantage of something that is not fully covered by the law in many countries... yet, at least.

I’ve noticed the exposure of sports gambling in recent months. It’s no surprise to see that its rise comes at a psychological cost of an individual that can turn them into an addict, pushing them towards debt, and generating potential homelessness unknowingly. As soon as pandora’s box of sports gambling opened, there is no going back, and that is well said on what is happening in America and abroad.

The worst part about the bookies is those who actually beat the book are never allowed to continue wagering. As soon as you’re seen as a threat / have a history of having an edge you’re limited

You gotta put this one in your yearly mistakes video, Sam. North Carolina does not have legalized sports betting, but was highlighted in your map graphic at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="338">5:38</a>

The casino you show at 16.30 is Crown casino in Perth where im from. Its close to the city but its closer to the south east of the city where the poorer suburbs start.

Many major cities in the US have casinos in downtown districts or very close (less than 30 minutes away), including DC.

I've been in australia for 6 months now and every single man I've met so far has talked to me about sports and their bets for the next game. It's astonishing to see this many people addicted to it. I think you can compare it to smoking in a away. But without the lung cancer.