America Was a Better Vibe When Our Main Vice Was Alcohol Instead of Sports Betting (Part 1)

I would even argue that the latter has far more long-term detrimental impacts than the former, and I’m willing to wager the American Government knows that.

Written by Blake P

ZERO AI WAS USED IN THE CREATION OF THIS POST

I’m going to use two different arguments here, over two different articles, to make my point that we were better off with a nation full of drinkers instead of a nation full of gambling addicts. One argument is about the United States government, economics, generational wealth, and income inequality. The other argument is essentially based on vibes. As to hook you, the reader, in early, I’m going to start with the vibe’s argument.

I want to start with a very niche, specific vibe that will tie into the vibe of the United States as a whole. I want to make an argument for anyone around my age, that American vibes for our generation peaked between 2010-2015. You may call it nostalgia glasses, but if you talk to anyone between the ages of 28-35, I’m willing to bet they would give you this timeframe, give-or-take two years. I’m going to set aside everything political and just talk about what made this time feel so special.

It was high school and college days for most of us. We were cautiously optimistic about the state of the world, and we were riding a pop-culture peak. Some of the best television shows in the world were starting or already in form, movies weren’t yet a blended mess of remakes/sequels/prequels or superhero movies, and we had a unique blend of artists releasing some of the best albums or mixtapes in their catalogs. House parties were still the go-to activity, college sports felt competitive, and professional sports felt genuine.

At that time, the generations above us were starting to pick up the pieces and get back on their feet after the housing crisis, and the country as a whole felt less stressed. Those years felt like a collective sigh of relief for the people old enough to remember it. During those times, our country’s vice was alcohol. I know what you’re thinking, there were tons of vices! You’re right about that, but our primary vice was alcohol. At that time, every other television ad was for Bud Light instead of DraftKings. The half-time shows were presented by Miller instead of FanDuel. And the cool thing to do as a teenager was get someone’s older sibling to buy you your first illegal beer, not place your first illegal bet.

There was a vibe then that felt more communal, and more genuine than it does now. There was something special about a tailgate or a watch party with friends over a pitcher or a bucket. There was an air to watching an event without worrying about the odds or having them shoved down your throat at every turn. There was something funny about having one too many beers and going to see a comedy with your friends and laughing harder than you should. There was a special kind of one-night bonding you would experience with a stranger on someone’s porch over a cigarette and a natty light in a red solo cup.

You would talk about inconsequential things that didn’t have financial or emotional weight to them. There was that conversation at that moment. It was okay to get pulled away from a football or baseball or basketball game because you weren’t concerned about whether your parlay was going to hit. Back then, it was okay to miss things. Sports conversations centered around where you grew up, or where you went to school. People reminisced on good years and bad years, they cultivated a fanbase and they pulled for teams they loved and not teams they bet on that day.

Like or not, sports is a truly unifying cultural phenomenon not just in America but all around the world. For a time, so was drinking, for better and worse. As sports gambling continues to spread its tendrils through society, these unifying experiences are starting to dwindle. Our conversations center around what the odds are for games. We don’t text about our excitement for an upcoming game or the atmosphere; we send pictures of our parlays and what the payout could be if we hit. We sit at the table or the couch with a group and track bets on our phones, instead of talking about what’s happening over a pitcher.

There are also trivial things. I’ve heard horror stories about gambling; I’ve heard horror stories about peoples drinking. I have never in my life heard a good Sports Gambling story. Like…ever. I hear funny drinking stories all the time. I have hundreds of them that have happened to me and my friends when we were young and dumb, and there’s something funny to me about listening to someone do something stupid in college because they were convinced they could make it through a “power hour” when they couldn’t. I had a roommate in college one time at a party that got drunk and snowboarded down our stairs. No one was harmed in the incident, and it was objectively hilarious. I still tell that story. I want to know, what is the equivalent to that in the sports betting world? Do those stories hit the same? Maybe to gamblers.

Maybe it’s all trivial. I just don’t remember drinking culture ever being this annoying. I remember alcohol commercials, I don’t ever remember them at the volume of gambling commercials. I remember people telling drinking stories, I don’t remember ever centering entire conversations, podcast, or shows around drinking. I remember drinking being popular, I don’t ever remember it being this widespread. I definitely don’t remember broadcasts cutting minimizing a game in the middle of a pitch or a free throw to tell you about what an alcohol sponsor thinks is about to happen. And that’s what I think makes this trend so uniquely vibe-killing. We are changing everything to accommodate it, and to actively push it, and it’s just so…fucking…annoying.

I think betting has an interesting characteristic that other vices don’t where it can sully your favorite things quicker and easier than others. For instance, there are people that gamble on the Emmys. Who the fuck gambles on the Emmys? It starts with sports, and snowballs into every aspect of your life. Before you know it, you’re gambling on your kid’s soccer games. Sure, you can make the argument, what doesn’t have that ability? Which is a fair point. But what happens if I drink too many beers watching the Emmy’s at home? I fall asleep? What’s the risk ratio of betting your grocery money on the Lakers versus spending $15 on beer drinking too much and falling asleep before the end of the game?

Sports betting has made our commentary worse, it made our viewing experiences more anxious, and it made the good things feel less meaningful and the bad things more meaningful. Every sports podcast is sponsored by FanDuel, every game suspiciously finishes within half a point of the spread, and people have forgotten how to have a genuine conversation unless it involves an over/under. With the rise of sports betting, gambling has started to seep into every aspect of our lives that was unheard of ten years ago.

ESPN had their own sportsbook, now they have a partnership with one. ESPN owns and operates the SEC. ESPN owns the rights to the college football playoffs. How much sway do they have over the lines being put out, how much sway do they have over their officials? Does ESPN have an added financial benefit in affecting the outcome of games based on current and future bets? Which fanbase is more likely to bet on games? Can we get that team into the playoffs? Officials, players, coaches, trainers across multiple sports and leagues banned, arrested, indicted, awaiting trial for rigging games or altering outcomes for certain bets.

Kalshi this, Polymarket that, “what are the odds this wins best picture”, “bet on if we will use nuclear weapons against Iran”, “make money on the weather”, someone kill me, please. We’ve turned every human experience, positive or negative, into a game to play. A game where people can lose money, in a time where most people don’t have the money to lose. Sports betting gave rise to an addiction and a vice that’s completely changed the way in which we interact, we think, we live, we consume, and we enjoy. It’s set a dangerous precedent, one that is engrained deep in the psyche of people looking for a dopamine hit. It’s more widespread, it’s easier to access, it’s more advertised than the vices of the past. We have a generation of people who will proudly tell you they don’t drink, they don’t smoke. “I’m better than that,” they tell you; they tell themselves, while spending $250 a week on lost bets, convinced they haven’t traded one addiction for another.

Right now, I want to make a point, in clear terms, I am well aware how dangerous alcohol is. I know, better than most, how dangerous alcohol can be. I know there are people all around the country who have been damaged by alcohol whether it be from their own actions, actions of a loved one, or actions of a complete stranger. I know alcohol has ruined people’s lives. I know that overconsumption of any vice can ruin people’s lives. I know that we would be better off as a society with no vices. That is not lost on me. I have had many struggles with alcohol; people close to me have as well. I don’t ever want to seem as if I am suggesting if you are a gambling addict, put that down and pick up a bottle.

This is more about what we gain, lose, and sacrifice when we trade one vice for another. In my eyes, I find gambling to be a more destructive activity to be engaged in on a nationwide scale. I know people who don’t drink, who can’t stop gambling. I find it to be a sneaky addiction, that is easier to mask and not talked about enough. If you have a drinking or a drug problem, it’s not easy to hide. It’s very, very easy to hide a gambling addiction, until it’s not. We, as a society, also have yet to see the long-term impact of this addiction on a large scale. Apart from your favorite sports broadcaster throwing out “call 1-800-GAMBLER if you have a gambling problem,” no one talks about the dangerous impact this trend is causing on such a large scale, and it probably won’t be fully realized for years to come, unlike the effects of drug and alcohol addiction we see every day.

I am in no moral position to question, or judge, what anyone does with their free time. I think things have got exponentially shittier in the world recently, and if you can find things or hobbies that make you happy without harming others, you should be able to do those things. I am not a beacon of moral superiority; I’m not some great person. I am writing this because I think the country is getting more anxious. I think that as a whole we’re becoming more emotionally volatile, less financially stable, and more distant from the things we once loved. I write this to argue that the direction we’ve gone with gambling may not have caused it, but it’s accelerating it at a rapid pace. Long-story short, gambling is ruining the vibe, and we have only scratched the surface.