Turn on your television, radio or mobile device, and you will see and hear gambling/casino websites being promoted nonstop. Thrown at you harder than a Paul Skenes fastball, this gambling propaganda is relentless. It’s scary how our society condones it, like alcohol and drugs.
What you don’t hear is that the excitement from “gambling action” can turn into a powerless addiction, ruining and affecting everyone around you. In a time when youth are being misled and influenced by social media, we dangle this potential dead-end road in front them. Now it’s in the palm of your hands, more accepted and accessible than drugs and alcohol, more convenient than private local drinking clubs and methadone clinics. American as apple pie.
Even more unimaginable is America’s four major sports leagues joining forces with sports gambling. It’s a partnership already negatively affecting each sport and will surely lead to their demise. Did I mention the similarity to methadone clinics and drinking social clubs? What’s next, commercials promoting drugs and alcohol? Pharmacies partnering with drug cartels? Compromise everything for a dollar? What has become of our proud country?
Something must be done. Don’t worry, gambling junkies. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Joshua McLachlan
South Side