Episode 153: Everybody Loses? The Rise of American Sports Gambling & What It Means for Public Health (featuring Danny Funt)

Sports betting is everywhere. But what has the rapid expansion of legalized gambling actually cost us?

In this episode, journalist Danny Funt joins to discuss his book Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling. Together, we explore how America’s sports betting boom has reshaped sports culture, media coverage, public health, and consumer protections. Danny shares insights from interviews with people who struggle with gambling, industry executives, researchers, and regulators. The conversation goes beyond financial losses and examines:

• The erosion of sports integrity
• VIP betting programs and emotional entanglement strategies
• Misleading “risk-free” advertising
• Weak consumer protections
• Conflicts of interest between leagues and betting monitors
• The normalization of gambling in sports media
• Why meaningful regulation may require crisis-level consequences

We discuss how gambling problems affect high-functioning, disciplined individuals — challenging common stereotypes and humanizing the issue. This episode asks a hard question: If sports betting continues to expand without stronger safeguards… who really wins?

About the Guest:

Danny Funt is the author of Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling. His reporting has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and the Columbia Journalism Review. He previously worked as an editor at The Week magazine. A graduate of Georgetown University and the Columbia Journalism School, he lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife, Sally, their son, Louis, and their tuxedo cat, Wynnie.

Links:

• Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Everybody-Loses/Danny-Funt/9781668062029
• E-mail: dannyfunt1@gmail.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-funt-2695b4a3/

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Talking Addiction & Recovery Podcast is the follow-up to the book "Addiction & Recovery" by author and clinician Andrew J. Schreier. This podcast explores discussions regarding important issues related to addiction and recovery. Information you learn here is not typical of what you will find in academic textbooks and resources; and comes from the experiences of a clinical supervisor, clinical substance abuse counselor, and licensed professional counselor and the work with individuals and others involved in this field. Listen as guests join the show and cover a wide range of topics looking to educate individuals, families, communities, organizations, institutions, mental health professionals, educators, and anyone else impacted by addiction and recovery. Content is not intended to be treatment and is not affiliated with any specific group.