We saw social media companies exploit human psychological weaknesses to gain and keep users. Sports-betting apps are doing a similar thing. When they give you money to join, they’re basically telling you they think their product is addictive enough to keep you on.

A good rule of thumb would be to think of sports betting like we think of alcohol: forbidden by God in excess and approached with caution in moderation (Eph. 5:18; Prov. 13:11; 1 Tim. 6:10). Ask yourself how much it’s costing, how frequently you’re doing it, and whether there’s a better way to achieve your goal—in this case, of making money,

Sports fans tend to think we know sports and have a good sense of how many yards a player is going to get, or which team is going to win. But all the information we have is public, so it’s incorporated by the bookkeeper as they’re setting the lines and odds. And they have in-depth statistics and very fancy predictive analytical tools. You just