Perhaps no industry has been more scrutinized in recent years than sports betting, and for good reason. Multiple online sportsbooks have engaged in what many would consider to be unsavory business practices; encouraging their least successful customers to bet more and more while limiting winning bettors from wagering any meaningful amount of money. Add to that enticing promotions designed to recapture losing players, and it’s hard to have much sympathy for the sports betting industry.
One prominent political commentator that agrees with those sentiments might surprise you: Tucker Carlson. The former Fox News host has long purportedly championed personal freedoms and liberties, the types of values one might associate with someone that has no issues with sports betting companies. After all, bettors are consenting adults participating in an activity that, on the surface, can only harm themselves. And Carlson, for his part, has readily endorsed other vices, like nicotine use, in the past.
So why draw the line at sports betting? Speaking with guest Saagar Enjeti on a recent episode of The Tucker Carlson Show, Carlson explained.
“Why not just say it’s disgusting and it’s predatory?” Carlson posed to his guest, who agreed. “And by the way, they’re preying … on the frustration and sadness of young men who know they’re never going to be able to afford a wife, kids, and a house.
“Business wasn’t always this sleazy in the United States,” Carlson continued. “There were self-restraints. I mean, I’ve never been that into business, or never participated in business, actually, in my whole life. But, I have been here awhile and I remember people had, like, there was a feeling of, ‘Well that’s just wrong, we’re not going to do that.’ Taking advantage of people was bad, especially poor people.
“Why are people paying their gambling debts?” Carlson later asked. “Why are people paying their credit card bills? I don’t understand. I mean, it’s so one-sided. It’s like, you’re a college student and you get credit card offers, free credit cards, and you get lured into something like this. You get destroyed by it, but you still have to pay your debts; so it’s all upside for them. And then people wag their finger in your face like, ‘Oh, you’re a communist.’ Am I a communist? No, no, I’m not. If you say, ‘Why would you pay your debts? Why would you ever?’… [the companies are] the ones who should be ashamed.”
“Our legislators should do something about it,” Enjeti said.
“I really do want to start a political party: ‘Don’t Pay Your Credit Card Bill.’ ‘Do Not Pay Your Gambling Debts,’ Carlson said. “I really do.”
“It’d be a general strike against — or student loan, honestly,” replied Enjeti.
“But what they do — and it’s the same people — they take the frustration — the people who are benefiting from DraftKings and Citibank — they take the frustration that people feel — this stupid new mayor of New York — and they move it into, like, race hate,” Carlson continued. “They basically take that momentum and they shift it into a safe direction. Like, just hate each other on the basis of the way you look. And that’s very safe for their backers; but I’m just waiting for the guy who’s like, ‘No, no, no. The real criminals are the ones who are loaning you money at 30% interest or getting you to go bankrupt on a sports gambling app.’ Like, those are the villains. Why don’t we go after them?”
Based on how elected officials have recently come down on the gambling industry, it does seem like the pendulum is swinging back towards Carlson’s ideal. Last week, California’s AG cracked down on daily fantasy sports, deeming them prohibited under state law. And as part of President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” signed into law last week, bettors can no longer write off 100% of their gambling losses.
So it’s safe to say there has been a push back. But legalization is likely to spread to all 50 states eventually, at which point the onus will be on legislators to effectively prevent predatory practices by the sportsbooks.