It’s easy to bet on sports. It’s hard not to get hooked

If you were given thousands of dollars in free money to gamble, would you find yourself a little — or a lot — addicted to the games? McKay Coppins, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how his magazine gave him $10,000 to use as seed money as he explored the rise of online sports gambling, why he was surprised at how much the gambling interfered with his family life and sleep and how he received special dispensation from his church to take part in the experiment. His article is “My Year as a Degenerate Gambler.” This episode originally aired, March 31st, 2026.