Wanna Bet?

If you watch sporting events on television or online—or even if you do not—you have likely noticed a drastic increase in advertisements for online sports gambling. These ads frequently conclude with something along the lines of “remember to always bet responsibly.” Why is this industry exploding in popularity? If it’s “just a way to make the game more exciting,” is there anything wrong with it?

Betting on sports is nothing new. The effect that it can have on the sports themselves was a concern even back in 1919 with the infamous Black Sox scandal, in which eight Major League Baseball players were accused of purposefully losing the World Series in collusion with sports gamblers. Since then, legal gambling on sports had generally been confined to a few locations, such as Las Vegas, though many circumvented the laws altogether and participated in black-market gambling.

But in June 2021, the Canadian Parliament approved Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act. It was widely popular, with just 15 of the 338 Members of Parliament voting against it. This act brought to Canada a legalized gambling regimen much like what had come to the United States three years earlier when, in May 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). Today, in many states and provinces, betting on anything from who’s going to win the big game to who’s going to win the coin flip determining who starts with the ball can be done from the comfort of your own basement—all you need is a smartphone.

How big has the legal gambling industry grown? In the first four years since the repeal of PASPA, The Guardian reported that Americans had wagered $125 billion in sports betting. It describes that figure this way: “To comprehend just how much $125 billion is, consider this: It’s a bit more than the amount that was spent on pet food, supplies and veterinary care in the entire country last year, and more than the net income for America’s farmers last year” (“Americans Have Bet $125BN on Sports in Four Years Since Legalization,” May 13, 2022).

And the industry has continued to grow. In its 2024–2025 annual report, iGaming Ontario—the province’s state-sponsored gaming agency—noted that $82.7 billion in wagers generated $2.9 billion in revenue for the province in that year, a 30 percent increase over the previous year and a startlingly large number for a province with a population just above 16 million.

And those numbers are likely to increase. The global sports betting market, valued at $111.2 billion in 2025, is expected to reach $236 billion by 2033, according to a June 2026 report issued by Grand View Research.

A Gain or a Loss for Gamblers?

Some point to these numbers as a great success. Those who were gambling illegally are now doing it legally and being taxed on it—it seems like good news for everyone! This argument is also used to support casinos and government-run lotteries.

Gambling counsellor Amanda Laprade explains some of the problems, saying that “the dopamine the brain receives while someone is waiting for the result of a bet, such as a player hitting a shot or a goalie making a save, is just as powerful as when the result actually happens. That’s what makes it so addictive.” And while many do not realize this, “people who struggle with problem gambling are the highest risk of suicide, [more] than any other addiction” (“Sports Betting Is Easier Than Ever and Gambling Addiction Experts Are Worried,” CBC.ca, May 19, 2023).

A January 2026 article in the journal Addictive Behaviors reported that sports betting is “associated with greater gambling problems compared to lottery tickets, instant games, and raffles” and is also associated with greater depression and anxiety, as well as depressive symptoms, compared to other forms of gambling (“Understanding the Links Between Anxiety, Depression, and Sports Betting,” Volume 172). One factor in the problem is that because participants believe they have a better ability to predict the outcome of a sporting event than they would the result of a game of purely random chance—such as a slot machine or craps table—they are more likely to continue gambling despite their already-incurred losses, which compounds the scope and depth of their addiction.

Watching sports used to be about cheering the home team as they put their skill to the test against others, performing feats that we athletically average individuals could only dream of. Sadly, each and every game now results in far greater losses than just having the lowest score.

One would think that a struggling economy would cause many to closely examine their spending and cut back on non-essential purchases—like gambling. However, the reality is that those who can afford it the least are often the ones who fall into the trap. “Gambling-related bankruptcies in [Ontario] have skyrocketed more than 400% since private online gambling launched” (“Online Sports Betting Is Fueling a Financial Crisis for Young Canadians—What You Need to Know,” Money.ca, March 6, 2026). In the first quarter of 2026, more Canadians filed for insolvency than in any quarter since the fallout from the financial crisis of 2008. According to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, this is an 8.5 percent increase over the first quarter of 2025.

However, gambling is not the sole—or even the primary—source of Canada’s personal debt crisis.

Gambling—An Outgrowth of Greed?

The Bible provides sound financial and moral principles through which gambling can be examined. In his first epistle to Timothy, the Apostle Paul describes a problem that is just as relevant now as it was on the day he wrote about it: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10). Paul’s words here have been incorrectly translated in the past, leading many to refer to money as the root of all evil. This has caused serious misunderstandings, as people have assumed that money is somehow behind all the evil in the world. Money itself is not evil—Jesus Christ used money and, at times, instructed others to do so—and while the love of money does lead to many problems, it is only a source of evil, far from the only one.

The love of money can cause otherwise levelheaded individuals to make irrational and unwise decisions. How else can we explain those who spend their last dollars on lottery tickets or prioritize betting on a hockey game over paying their rent?

Sadly, the dream of getting rich from selecting the right numbers or guessing who is going to score the first goal—rather than from having worked hard and made wise financial decisions—is proving to be too strong of a pull for many Canadians. But this downward spiral does not need to be your reality. Our free resource Greed: A Global Disease contains a compilation of several articles relevant to this topic. These articles outline many of the problems associated with greed and the principles for overcoming this scourge, and you can request it from the Regional Office closest to you—listed on page 4 of this magazine—or order it online at TomorrowsWorld.org/order-publications.