Few topics related to the world of sports have captured my imagination quite the same way as sports gambling has.

A couple years ago, author Michael Lewis devoted the entire season on his podcast, Against the Rules, to sports fandom and gambling. (Listen to that season’s trailer here.) I was fascinated.

I read McKay Coppins‘ amazing piece in The Atlantic (“Sucker: My year as a degenerate gambler”) chronicling his NFL season as a sports gambler earlier this year, ironically, while on my way to Las Vegas for some March Madness fun. It was riveting.

All the while, I kept seeing the name Danny Funt and, eventually, the title of his first book-length work which was published earlier this year, Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling, pop up in social media posts.

I picked up a copy from my local library and began reading and became increasingly infuriated by the words on the pages. Not Danny and his syntax, mind you, but how sports gambling’s power players were working quietly behind the scenes (with North American professional sports leagues) while the Supreme Court was deciding Murphy vs. NCAA in 2018.

The Endgame: Be ready to capitalize on a multi-billion dollar opportunity should the ruling be in their favor.

In short, the online sports gambling industry bet big on the SCOTUS outcome and won. Today, the U.S. is just beginning to realize what it may have lost. (Read this gut-wrenching piece from ESPN about a sports gambling on college campuses.)

This week I’m delighted to discuss all of it with Danny Funt. Sure, we chat about his early years as a sports fan in San Francisco’s Bay Area. Still, the crux of our Conversation is about Everybody Loses, what the consequences have been, and what the future holds for a nation that doesn’t seem terribly willing to confront a very real problem that is infiltrating all portions of its populus.

And – great news! – thanks to Danny’s generosity, we have an author-signed copy of Everybody Loses to give away. To enter, all you need to do is email me at hilldouglast@gmail.com by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, September 13.

My Conversation with author Danny Funt.