From The Pulpit To The Smartphone: The New Challenge Of Sports Gambling
(ANALYSIS) I admit it. I listen to sports talk radio. However, I do not have sports betting apps on my smartphone. Ditto for my desk computer.
Truth is, I grew up Southern Baptist and gambling was totally verboten. If you research the history of Southern Baptist Convention resolutions opposing gambling, you will need to start with texts in the late 19th century.
Why discuss this on Rational Sheep in the context of 2026 screens culture? I have several reasons. However, I think readers will see clues in several of the “Whereas” arguments in this 2025 SBC resolution: “On the Harmful and Predatory Nature of Sports Betting.” I added some bold italics this:
WHEREAS, An increasing majority of states are now promoting and regulating sports betting since the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association allowed states to legalize the practice, contributing to it becoming one of the fastest-growing enterprises in the world; and
WHEREAS, Sports betting continues to advance and integrate itself into modern athletics at both the professional and collegiate levels; and …
WHEREAS, The sports betting industry fosters a culture of greed while specifically exploiting and preying upon young adults, the impoverished, and those with addictive personality traits; and
WHEREAS, The influence of sports betting has been heightened due to the ease and accessibility of online and mobile platforms, which facilitate decreased accountability and increased fiscal irresponsibility by users, having led to never-before-seen levels of gambling addiction and financial ruin; and …
In terms of taking action, the SBC urged lobbying efforts urging “corporations involved in this industry to cease their exploitative practices” while, on the political level, urging “our leaders at all levels of government to curtail sports betting and to address its disastrous effects through policy and legislation.”
But what about efforts in pulpits, pews, fellowship halls, retreats and Sunday school classrooms? Near the end of the resolution there is this:
RESOLVED, That we encourage our Southern Baptist Convention leaders, entities, and pastors to continue to educate our churches on the deceptive sin of gambling through biblical instruction and practical resources while providing compassionate support and counseling to those struggling with gambling addiction and its consequences. …
Allow me to be rather Southern in my response to that: “Bless. Their. Hearts.”
You can read the rest of this post on Substack.
Terry Mattingly lives in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and writes Rational Sheep, a Substack newsletter on faith and mass media. He is a retired mass media professor at Milligan University.