Mar 5, 2025
When a sitting United States Senator agrees to sit down with a gambling addiction podcast, you know the issue has reached a critical moment. In this landmark episode, Brian and Jeff are joined by US Senator Richard Blumenthal, one of the most outspoken advocates in the United States Congress for gambling addiction reform, for a conversation that goes straight to the top of the political fight to protect problem gamblers in America.
Senator Blumenthal has been sounding the alarm on the sports betting explosion for years. He is the author of two landmark pieces of legislation: the SAFE Bet Act, which would require sports betting companies to meet federal standards on marketing, affordability, and AI-driven targeting, and the GRIT Act, the first-ever federal funding stream dedicated to helping prevent, treat, and study gambling addiction in the United States. This is the Senator who has publicly called out FanDuel, DraftKings, MGM, Caesars, and ESPN Bet by name for exploiting problem gamblers.
In this episode
- Why Senator Blumenthal calls sports betting one of the most severe public health problems in America today
- How sportsbooks use real-time data and AI to specifically target people losing money and drive them deeper into addiction
- What the SAFE Bet Act would do to crack down on predatory gambling marketing and advertising
- How the GRIT Act would create the first ever federal funding for gambling addiction treatment and research
- Why drugs, alcohol, & tobacco has federal funding, but gambling addiction does not and what Senator Blumenthal is doing to change that
- What it will take to get meaningful gambling protection legislation passed in Congress
Show Email leestreetpod@gmail.com
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