Young Man, Don’t Even Make That First Sports Bet

If you’ve ever participated in a really good fantasy league, you’ve probably experienced a kind of “enhancement” to sports that makes them all the more exciting.

So, wait, sports betting is sin, but playing in a fantasy league isn’t? Isn’t there money won and lost in playing fantasy sports leagues?

Fantasy football is fun (not for me, but other people).

It’s a way to think about players and matchups. But you don’t win of lose money.

Interesting how a particular culture affects Christians to the point that they don't realize they are being affected by the culture.

I've never participated in a fantasy football league, but the ones guys were promoting in a previous church I attended required a $40 admission fee that would be pooled together and used as a jackpot for the winner(s).

How is that not the same thing as gambling?

So, the take away of all of this is that as long as money is not involved, it's not a sin to engage in these activities. As soon as money is introduced, it becomes sin.

I'm not sure I buy that.

If you're tempted to put too much energy into watching and/or betting on pro football, read Bennett Omalu's autobiography, which details how CTE was detected.

Regarding sports betting in general, my first take is (again) "the house always wins", and I'm also glad to have grown up in an era where adults could honestly tell you "if you are making bets on sports teams, you are most likely interacting with the Mob, and that can turn out very badly for you." Now at this point, the Mob has mostly been removed from sports betting, and sports gambling has been legalized in a lot of places, so it's probably a point of more the risks of avarice and bad handling of resources than the proverbial lead pipe to your kneecaps these days.

One other thing that goes on is that the reason a lot of people love gambling so much is that it appears to be an "easy dopamine hit", really along the same lines of playing solitaire, viewing pornography or even social media. (probably the worst thing is, of course, commenting on Sharper Iron.... oh shoot!)

So we might infer that one practical reason to eschew sports gambling specifically and gambling in general is because, like some of these other habits, you're destroying your ability to be patient for good outcomes.