The Casino-ification of America
3/20/20261 hr 12 min
In 2017, Americans legally bet about $5 billion on sports. Last year, that number rose to $160 billion. Gambling hasn’t just taken over sports. It’s invaded culture, politics, and even international warfare. Bettors have already made millions of dollars wagering on the precise dates and locations of bombing campaigns in Iran, and journalists have been hounded for reporting on events that can lose bettors money. It’s one thing to believe, as I do, that it would be foolish to entirely ban sports gambling in the U.S. It’s another to watch the warp-speed casino-ification of American life and not think, “Something has gone badly wrong here!” McKay Coppins, a staff writer at The Atlantic, joins the show to discuss his new cover story on how gambling conquered sports … and everything else. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: McKay Coppins Producer: Devon Baroldi Links: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/04/online-sports-betting-app-addiction/686061/ Source for all photos: Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
[upbeat music] This episode is brought to you by Netflix. All right, baseball fans, get ready. For the first time in history, the Major League season kicks off with one exclusive opening night game live on Netflix. The New York Yankees, led by seven-time All-Star Aaron Judge, roll into the San Francisco Bay to battle Rafael Devers and the San Francisco Giants. The wait is over. It's time to play ball. Watch MLB Opening Night, the New York Yankees versus the San Francisco Giants, live on Netflix, Wednesday, March 25th at 8:00 PM Eastern Time, 5:00 PM Pacific Time.
Derek Thompson· Host0:37
I wanna tell you three stories about the state of gambling in America. Story one, on the morning of February 28th, someone logged onto the prediction market website Polymarket and placed a $32,000 bet. This bet wasn't placed on an NBA game. It wasn't placed on a hockey game. It wasn't placed on any sport. This was a bet that the United States would bomb Iran that very day, at a time when the odds said it was an extremely low probability chance of happening. A few hours later, the bombs fell, and that one bet turned into a $553,000 payday for a user named MAGA My Man. It was just one of dozens of suspicious, perfectly timed wagers totaling millions of dollars placed in the hours