America has a gambling problem, and it’s becoming harder to see. For decades, addiction was associated with the obvious vices: drugs, alcohol and, to a lesser extent, the desperate soul sitting at a casino table.
Today, gambling can happen anywhere, at any hour, with nothing more than a phone and a bank account. You can gamble throughout an entire football game without ever leaving the sofa. And you can lose thousands of dollars without a friend or family member even knowing.
That makes gambling addiction particularly dangerous. The addict doesn’t have to look like an addict. He can be sober and successful. He can be surrounded by people he loves while privately chasing losses on his phone. Unlike drugs or booze, gambling offers its own seductive promise of salvation.
