As sports gambling becomes legal in more and more US states, I remember how it slowly took over the social lives of my
Friends back home
![I saw betting’s toxic sludge swamp Australian sport. Now it’s coming for America](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9ef9e0711ea85a736d02a9e75f8370de60981a32/0_109_3000_1800/master/3000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=8b6b5161c18b369133829fa2343c7cc6)
In July, a friend from the old country (Australia) visited
New York, where I live, and messaged me to see whether I’d be up for a drink. The European
Football championship had just entered its knockout stages; once we’d decided which match to watch – Switzerland v
Spain – and where, my friend immediately began bombarding me with suggestions for different bets we could place: first goalscorer, half-time score, final score and so on.
On the afternoon we were due to meet, he messaged to say he was running late, then added: “I’ve got $500 on the Swiss to win, $12,500 payout.” Throughout the match he kept checking his phone to keep tabs on updated odds; when Switzerland lost to Spain on penalties, he sank into a gloom that did not lift until his basket of super spicy buffalo wings arrived. For an afternoon, I was transported back to the social world I’d left behind in Australia, and one that’s slowly but surely taking shape in America: a world in which sports betting is a permanent fixture of conversation, a slow-moving magmatic sludge that eventually takes over every space, every interaction, every friendship in which sport plays an important role.