Hey Church, Can We Talk?

I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago and spent time at the craps table. I don’t play poker, slots, or blackjack. I will roll dice with friends, have a few drinks, and have only lost money once playing craps. I view it as entertainment. I get to be on the floor, rolling dice, meeting people, and people watch in Vegas with ‘free’ drinks.

I don’t have an objection to gambling per se. I am one of the few in my group of friends who does not place bets on sports. I have friends who make a living off sports betting. My personal view is that I work too hard for my money to want to bet against the house. Your mileage may vary and I’m okay with that.

But I can see where this is headed.

Alcohol and cigarettes and even drugs have been around for a very long time. Sports betting is relatively new, with the Supreme Court only really opening the flood gates in 2018. Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, and other vices do not have media collaboration or participation.

But turn on ESPN and entire shows will now be devoted to pushing young men into placing sports bets. The network, arguably in a conflict of interest, has ties to sports betting operations. College campuses are inundated with sports betting with some giving sports betting companies sponsorships around college sports. Social media influencers and even conservative talk hosts are acting like it is no big deal, normal, and not very risky. As an aside, I have turned down lucrative ad revenue for my radio show because I refuse to endorse sports betting.

I see where this is headed and it is not a good place.

This is a place for the church to involve itself. Sports betting is in its infancy and spreading rapidly. Now, most nefariously, some broadcasters are pushing bets during games. But those same games are running through streaming services in delay from broadcast television. So we are increasingly at the point where people could be betting on actions inside games that have happened before the bet goes through. It’s only a matter of time.

Churches, you should speak up on this issue. A generation of young men could use your voice.

I don’t mean to ruffle the feathers of my friends who engage in sports betting or make money off it. I’m not asking for a ban on sports betting. But we don’t have networks pushing vices the way they are gambling. We don’t have coverage of other activities encouraging vices in the broadcast the way we do sports betting. You may see the beer commercial, but the hosts are not encouraging you to get drunk during their broadcast. They are too busy encouraging bets as they narrate the play by play.

This is not going to end well. It is readily foreseeable. Churches should speak up.