Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
by Jonathan D. Cohen
View on GoodreadsJonathan Cohen's history-and-policy book on the explosion of American sports gambling after the 2018 Murphy v. NCAA decision struck down PASPA — the lobbying-industry construction of the new market, the harms accumulating, and the regulatory race-to-the-bottom across states.
Core ideas
- The states that "won" the lobbying race for early adoption got the worst terms — the gambling industry's playbook front-loaded permissive rules in exchange for fast revenue, and most state regulators are now catching up to what they actually allowed.
- The harm profile is structurally similar to the lottery-and-pill-mill cases Cohen and others have documented before — disproportionate impact on low-income, addiction-prone, and young-male populations, with revenue captured by industry while costs are socialized.
- The book is direct companion to Cohen's own For a Dollar and a Dream (state lotteries) — same author, same analytical frame, applied to the next vice-revenue cycle.
Published2025
Pages192
ISBN9798987053706
ReadOct 2025
