Kentucky’s revenues have grown from sports gambling. So have many problems | Opinion

I know a guy who likes to tell people how he got free money. As online sports gambling became legal, at the urging of friends, he signed up and downloaded the app to his phone. He invested $10 (and got $200 for signing up) so he bet on a few games with his friends. At the end of the weekend, he had almost $100 in his account. Another week that was up and down and up and down and he had $50. As he tells it, “I got $40 for free!”. What he also got was an app installed on his phone connected to his credit card. If you ask him, he no longer gambles with friends, but still bets on games, “when I get a hot tip.”

I have seen what this technology can do to someone who has been warned about gambling, and who looks at their attractive advertising with a skeptical eye. Online gambling is socially acceptable, and talked about like harmless fun, but studies show that is not the whole truth. In 2023 pre-legalization surveys, over 40% of Kentuckians said they were likely to use online betting once it was legal. With so many people impacted, we need to think hard about it.

I believe that it makes sense to be honest about the benefits and the costs. Sports gambling brought in almost $40 million tax revenue to Kentucky in 2024. Some of it goes to combat problem gambling — a bit under $1 million. Overall, companies took in over $9 billion in gambling revenue in Kentucky in 2024, which put hundreds of millions of dollars into state coffers. Gambling has done so for many years.

But there is a cost for this windfall. Studies have found increases in bankruptcies, debt collections, debt consolidation loans, and auto loan delinquencies in states where sports betting is legalized. This is in part because even though it is marketed as entertainment, people who gamble online tend to not use their normal entertainment budgets but instead use money that would have been set aside for a rainy day.

The Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling tells us that gambling problems cause other problems. It is linked to domestic violence, divorce, and severe financial strain. These problems increase as gambling becomes more accessible and available. What’s more accessible than an app on a device that’s always with you and always on? And what’s more available than an unlimited number of sports around the world that you can bet on 24x7?

But there are problems of a darker nature. Gambling preys on the vulnerable and marginalized. Studies show that the negative impacts of gambling are largest in lower income areas. You’ve probably done this yourself when the Kentucky lottery advertises a huge jackpot. It happens in lower income neighborhoods too —people spend their last $10 on a lottery ticket with the hope of a life changing win that never comes. It’s this idea, that random chance is the only way to get out of the current situation, that plagues marginalized communities, especially their young men. Problem gambling is most common among 18- to 24-year-old males, young men who generally have a hard enough time financially without the added burdens.

Other vulnerable groups are hit the hard as well. Folks with childhood trauma show a substantially increased propensity for at-risk gambling behavior. People with poor self-reported mental health show higher problem gambling rates as well. And the impact on problem gamblers impacts their neighbors too. One-third of gambling addicts admitted to committing robbery to fund their habit, and 13% reported assaulting others to get money to wager. The suicide rate among problem gamblers is higher than any other addictive disorder.

Among other reasons, this is why the United Methodist Church has taken a strong stand against gambling and continues to develop new resources to fight what they call, “a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life.” The idea that one should depend on random chance, draws gamblers away from a loving God. The fact that if I win a bet, my neighbor loses, means I’m gaining at my neighbor’s expense, rather than loving them as Jesus calls us to. The fact that it’s marketed as harmless fun when so many reliable sources prove it is anything but harmless, and that the most marginalized are also the most harmed, suggests that gambling companies are at best lying, and at worst evil.

And so, the United Methodist Church, and others, continue to advocate for an end to gambling, and for more resources to care for those hurt by gambling problems — gamblers, their families, and their communities.

But what can we as individuals do about this monster? Start by deleting the app. When friends ask about gambling or games of chance at a fundraiser, decline. When asked why, suggest that there are better, and more enjoyable, ways to spend your money, ones that don’t take advantage of others for you to win. We can talk to your local organizations who run raffles or BINGO nights for fundraising, and explain that gambling problems often start from innocent beginnings, and that taking money from your neighbor in a game of chance is no better than taking it from their house in the middle of the night — it’s just more socially acceptable. We can educate your teens and young adults about the dangers, and talk honestly about the consequences of that app their friends are downloading. We can demand that our legislators increase taxes on that multi-billion-dollar monster and devote more resources to combatting its evils.

It’s football season, and basketball season is coming. We’re halfway to Derby. Resolve now to say “no” to placing that wager. The price is simply too high for all of us.

Rev. Russ Broomell is the assistant pastor for adult discipleship at Crestwood United Methodist Church.

This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 10:49 AM.