In a front page, above-the-fold story, Nov 20, 2023 New York Times published the most detailed, thorough, and revealing investigation into the commercialized gambling industry by any national media outlet in at least fifteen years.
The Times investigation shined a powerful light upon the corrupt and deceitful lobbying campaign by commercialized gambling interests, in partnership with professional and college sports leagues, big media companies, and some public officials from both parties, to push sports gambling and online gambling across the US. I posted the links to the five in-depth NYT stories farther below in this email.
KEY FINDINGS FROM INVESTIGATIVE REPORT:
1. At least 8 Universities in the U.S. are being paid by the gambling industry to promote Online gambling to their students.
2. Gambling industry promotions are being sent to underage students using the college student rolls.
3. Enticements like free games are used to capture new gamblers at the schools.
4. Professional and College teams and leagues are paid millions of dollars by the gambling promoters for the opportunity to advertise and promote gambling at their university games and dorms.
5. Gambling promoters give lip service to treatment of student problem gamblers, but give either nothing or very little to that effort.
6. Online sports wagering is very new in this country, but in Great Britain the effects on young people have been described as “catastrophic.”
There has been legislation submitted the last few years in the New Mexico legislature to legalize “account wagering,'”—betting on horse racing on the Internet or via phone. This would open the door to full-blown sports wagering, followed by casino style gambling on the Internet, as the progression has occurred in over half a dozen U.S. states. Please stop this scam if it appears in your chamber.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/20/business/caesars-sports-betting-universities-colleges.html