Sports gambling addiction becoming a major problem and theres a podcast addressing it
Anthony Pompliano, the financial guru known for his early advocacy of Bitcoin, is throwing his weight behind a fledgling podcast that seeks to combat addiction – and sports gambling will be a key topic of discussion, On The Money has learned.Betting on sports has become a $100 billion industry that is estimated to grow to $250 billion in just the next four years.Mainstream media rarely explores its downside: Addiction to a vice that destroys lives and leads to financial misery.Now, “Pomp” is making a strategic investment in a podcast company dedicated to helping address all sorts of addictions with a special focus on gambling, where legalization and ubiquitous advertising are creating a nation of degenerates hooked on the allure of easy money – unaware that the house almost always wins.Pomp hopes the investment – which is not public – will lead to a broader social media platform to address addictions, greater public awareness, and even a treatment center.Pompliano’s “The Pomp Podcast” airs from a studio in Midtown Manhattan and has drawn more than 50 million downloads.
He says he felt motivated as he got bombarded by all those sportsbook ads while watching football on any given Sunday.Major networks were pumping a vice that frequently leads to financial despair and which can also be a gateway to other addictions.The final straw was listening to one of the podcasts that work out of his studios called “Nothing’s Off The Table,” a twice-weekly show by a 32-year-old recovering drug and gambling addict named Louis Ruggiero.“The goal of Nothing’s Off The Table is to help people understand there is a way out of very dark places,” Pomp told On The Money.
“The platform has a big focus on sports gambling because there is almost no support for these young people who are having sports ads shoved down their throat on every TV broadcast, at every game, or on every social media platform.”Ruggiero, at least on its face, is the last person you’d...