Professors Sound Alarm on Sports Gambling Among Young Men: ‘A Casino in Their Pocket’
With gambling now woven into the sports industry – and data showing its rapid spread among young men – two Cedarville University professors are sounding the alarm, warning that it has the potential to wreck the lives of countless males, including students on their own campus.
A February 2025 survey by the Siena College Research Institute and St. Bonaventure University revealed that 22 percent of U.S. adults, including 48 percent of men ages 18 to 49, have an account with at least one sportsbook.
That same poll found that 52 percent of gamblers have “chased” a bet – wagering more in an effort to recoup a loss – while 20 percent have lost so much that they struggled to meet their financial obligations.
The marriage of gambling and smartphones has only intensified the problem – with 95 percent of all U.S. sports wagers now placed online.
“Everyone has access to a casino in their pocket,” Cedarville criminal justice professor Greg Thompson said.
Cedarville University is an evangelical Christian institution in southwest Ohio.
Merely a decade ago, online sports gambling was a niche activity. That changed when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark 2018 decision striking down a federal ban on sports wagering, clearing the way for dozens of states and the District of Columbia to legalize it. Today, every major sports league – including the NFL and NBA – promotes gambling platforms such as DraftKings and FanDuel through official partnerships, and sports networks like ESPN now include gambling odds throughout sports broadcasts.
Gambling ads are as prominent – if not more so – than those for alcohol.
No generation has ever faced such a constant barrage of gambling promotion.
“We are dealing day to day with young college students, and particularly amongst males, who don't always make the best decisions, who are not necessarily thinking long term,” Jared A. Pincin, associate professor of economics at Cedarville, told Crosswalk Headlines. “This is a situation where you can get yourself in a lot of trouble quickly. You're connecting something that can be addictive to something that you enjoy – sports – and that can be a recipe for disaster. So we're trying to mentor the young men around us to make wise decisions.”
One problem with the surge in gambling, Pincin and Thompson said, is the one-sided nature of gambling ads. Sports betting is portrayed as a fun and easy way to make money, while the reality – loss, debt, and addiction – is rarely acknowledged. Even the best professional sports gamblers win only about 55 percent of the time.
“You're not going to win that much,” Pincin said.
“There's millions of dollars going into the marketing – to the point where every 13 seconds, if you're watching some type of sporting event, on average, you're seeing something about sports gambling,” Thompson told Crosswalk Headlines. “And there's very little out there on the other side.
“So we want to disciple young men on this issue,” Thompson added. “The Bible has a lot to say about how we handle our money.”
Both men acknowledged the lure.
“If I was their age, I don't know what I would do,” Thompson said.
Said Pincin: “You've got an industry that is successful because of people losing.”
The professors assert that platforms like FanDuel and DraftKings rely on predatory practices, enticing new users with promises of effortless money and big rewards – and then keep them hooked with additional promotions and marketing.
“We should be talking about the risks more than ever to bring into the light what is often happening in secret on our phones,” Thompson said.
The truth, the men say, is much darker than the ads suggest.
“We need to treat sports betting like cigarette smoking,” Pincin said. “Everyone knows you shouldn’t be smoking because it’s bad for your health and it causes lung cancer.”
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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Listen to Michael's Podcast! He is the host of Crosswalk Talk, a podcast where he talks with Christian movie stars, musicians, directors, and more. Hear how famous Christian figures keep their faith a priority in Hollywood and discover the best Christian movies, books, television, and other entertainment. You can find Crosswalk Talk on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an interview that will be sure to encourage your faith.
Originally published November 13, 2025.
