This Week in Gambling: Does America have a gambling problem?

This week's gambling news from J. Todd is all about the growing threat of problem gambling. As sports betting and online betting spread across America, more and more states are becoming concerned with the possible rise in gambling addiction. Now, some media outlets have even begun to attack betting operators. Are their worries and criticisms founded? Or, is the issue of problem gambling overstated?

As our industry grows it becomes an easier target. Now, at least one member of the main-stream media has labeled the lottery as predatory gambling. And another member was willing to go as far as to call sports betting operators idiots. But do these claims have any merit? Or is it just the usual industry opponents with their usual negative rhetoric?

To be sure, some people just don’t like gambling. And within that group of haters there are several types. There are the ones who don’t enjoy the activity themselves, but basically leave us to our vices. There are the ones who have legitimate reasons for their dislike, with addiction and problem gambling affecting them or a family member on a personal level.

Then there's the "morality police," as I have called them over the years. They feel as if their standards should be the ones to which we all strive. That their ideas of right and wrong are the ethical high mark to which we should all strive. I’ve known a few of these buffoons in my life, and they are usually hiding some pretty dark stuff in their own lives. They go on these moral crusades in an effort to ‘pay penance’ for their own perceived shortcomings, or perhaps to mask their own dirty little secrets.