Recently, a coworker walked into a Southeastern Conference school’s fraternity on a Thursday at 2 p.m. He was shocked by what he saw in the chapter room. I’ve been in campus ministry for 20 years, but this kind of behavior is new. I know what you’re expecting: some version of Animal House mischief, or sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Instead, here’s what he encountered.
A group of frat brothers huddled around a large flat-screen, cheering loudly. Instead of rooting for their school’s football team, they had their eyes glued to a horse-drawn carriage race in Mumbai, India. What made them so animated? What caused them to scream at the top of their lungs? Every man in that room was betting on the race.
Around campus this year, I’ve discovered that most fraternities have a private bookie for each pledge class. In the cafeteria, the most discussed topic is the line on upcoming sporting events—and that includes obscure ones like esport competitions, professional basketball in Greece, and, yes, carriage races in Mumbai. A group of Christian students I know named their group text thread “Responsibly Making $” to encourage accountability as they placed bets. One minister received a phone call from a concerned parent who reported that their son is $12,000 in debt to a local bookie. One student used gambling winnings to fund his ticket and expenses for an upcoming Christian conference.
Sports betting is a national epidemic, and it’s particularly widespread among college men, who find the promise of meaningful risk appealing. But is the reward of sports betting worth the risks to college men? I say no. Young men should instead take more valorous risks.
Gambling Is Addictive. So What’s the Appeal?
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on sports betting, and it has since exploded in popularity. Recently, the American Gaming Association estimated that Americans will wager a record $1.39 billion on Super Bowl LIX.
If a believer gambles, he must reckon with the stewardship of his time and money. Is his participation promoting love for God or “love of money” (1 Tim. 6:10)? Is gambling the “best use of the time” (Eph. 5:16) or another trivial diversion? The potential for greed is rife. This issue is particularly prevalent among college-age men. These guys want to take risks, tell stories, and fellowship at tables. Instead of finding this in Christ and his mission, they settle for a parlay.
These guys want to take risks, tell stories, and fellowship at tables. Instead of finding this in Christ and his mission, they settle for a parlay.
While both men and women gamble, men are nearly three times as likely to become addicted. My fellow campus ministers and I believe that sports betting now rivals pornography as the dominant addiction among young men. These ministers estimate that 80 percent of fraternity members actively bet on sports.
But if sports betting is so addictive, what’s the appeal? Here’s where the comparison to porn is apt. What porn is to a man’s desire for sex, gambling is to his desire for meaningful risk. Sadly, what both porn and sports betting offer are mere fantasies, imitations of the real thing.
What Risks Are Worth Taking?
The sports-betting vice isn’t just about greed. It’s about masculine longings. Many teenagers today grow up in sheltered schools and homes. Jonathan Haidt argues that modern parenting has embraced a culture of “safetyism,” valuing children’s physical and emotional safety over teaching resilience. This overprotective culture seems to have led to an increase in anxiety as well as an unmet longing for meaningful risk. College men raised by overprotective parents now want to escape the mundane and feel “free” and “alive.”
Scripture instructs men to “be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13). A godly life requires risk. But men should channel their ambition for valor and courage into serving others. One chief deception of the virtual world is that risk can come without meaningful sacrifice. Snapchat enables a young man to “slide into DMs” without working up the courage to ask a woman out in person. He can play Call of Duty as a simulated soldier without leaving the comfort of his dorm room.
Robert Cunningham says sports betting is similar. It also “preys upon the nobility of masculinity” by channeling a desire for meaningful risk toward what seems like “easy money” rather than toward noble work. I often explain to men that God intends them to be battleships rather than cruise ships. They’re meant for more than leisure. They’re called to noble courage, sacrifice, and hard-working service.
What Story Is Worth Sharing?
When a young man hits on a five-team parlay, he can’t wait to share the against-all-odds story with the boys at the lunch table. Young men don’t gamble in isolation; they want to participate in a risky community. They want to share their big wins, bad beats, and close calls.
What porn is to a man’s desire for sex, gambling is to his desire for meaningful risk.
If you’re a college guy, I’m not writing to shame your yearning to risk, but I hope to redirect it. Take a risk. Just make sure it’s a worthy one. Before you place another bet, here’s what I want you to do. Talk about this issue with a group of close friends. Ask them, “What’s one risk that we can take for God and the gospel on our campus?” Then commit for the next 100 days to investing the money you’d normally use for gambling in meeting this need. Come back together regularly to pray and celebrate what God does.
As John Piper writes,
Find gloriously happy, helpful good deeds to do in people’s lives. . . . Imagine investing fifty dollars a week, two hundred dollars a month, in the causes of justice and gospel-spreading and the relief of the suffering. Oh, my, how much fun that would be.
We can take noble and sacrificial risks because Jesus sacrificed himself for us. From a merely human perspective, the cross and resurrection were even more improbable than a 16-seed beating a 1 in the NCAA tournament. By worldly standards, Jesus was the ultimate underdog whose death achieved a most unexpected victory. In him, we see the model of true valor and noble sacrifice. Gambling is fundamentally self-centered. When we bet, we risk for our own gain. But Christ sacrificed himself for our gain (2 Cor. 8:9), showing us it’s better to give than to receive.
You can bet on Jesus. Serving others with him is a risk worth taking.
The Gospel Coalition