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If you watch any sport, you’ve seen the ads. Before the game, during the game, after the game, in commercials, in sponsorships, in endorsements… It is everywhere. Sports betting has taken over the world seemingly overnight. Ever since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that legalized sports gambling, sports betting has become a booming industry with over 166 billion dollars spent by bettors in just the year of 2025 alone. Sports gambling has opened a door that “prediction” sites like Kalshi and Polymarket have burst through allowing users to bet money on the weather, political races, sports, scripted television, and even war. All of this points to a deep spiritual illness which has infected our culture. The love of money.  

1 Timothy 6:10 is a well-known passage which says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (CSB)”. Two things really stand out to me from this passage as it relates to our topic today. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evils, meaning that the evils that sprout up from this unrighteous love manifest in a great number of ways; and the lover of money craves it. When a person craves something, they typically will go to great lengths to satisfy that craving.

This love of money has brought about many evils of which is placing profit over people. DraftKings CEO Jason Robbins said this during a keynote panel earlier this year,

 “I think a lot of people — and it’s frustrating for us — look at us and say, you’re motivated by the wrong things. You don’t want people to bet within their means, you want to take advantage of people. That could not be farther from the truth. Every single person in the company will tell you that it’s not at all what we want. That’s the worst possible thing for our company, for our industry,”.

At first glance it sounds nice. They want to make sure that people are not irresponsible with betting and by no means am I suggesting that Mr. Robbins is not sincere in that desire. However, this desire is clearly not with the wellbeing of their fellow man in mind. This desire comes from the fact that if a gambler gambles all their money, then that is a lost customer. It is much more desirable for any gambling app to foster an environment where a person loses a moderate sum each month and not a grand amount so that the gambler becomes a permanent customer. This desire is made clear when we examine the practices of apps like DraftKings which prey on losing gamblers and encourage them to bet when they are most vulnerable with the help of AI led algorithms. These companies also discourage or stop winning bettors from continuing a hot streak much like casinos might remove a gambler who is making a little too much money. These companies do indeed also stop gamblers who lose too much money, but they use personal information or AI to send personalized promotions when pay day hits in order to draw them back in.  

If we look at the corporate world, we see a trend started by former GE Ceo Jack Welch that prioritized profits over people. In the past, caring for the employee and customer was of chief importance. After all, a happy customer and happy employees led to sustained profits. Jack Welch saw another way to profit however. He saw that by slashing employees, product quality, benefits, and raising prices to their absolute max that he could make profits soar. Sure, it came at the cost of people, but the checks were nice.

Now, this is our culture. Money talks. We suspect politicians to all be bought, but should we be surprised? After all, under our own watch we have allowed this love of money to go unchecked and become the ultimate idol of American life. Why shouldn’t a politician trade values for cash when cash is the end goal of all things according to culture? We dislike seeing athletes demand $300 million contracts instead of taking $250 million and staying on a winning team, but why would they when money is viewed as a greater thing than legacy? Why should a fast-food restaurant donate their leftover food to the homeless when they can sell it on the cheap elsewhere? Why should we donate our ill-fitting clothes when we could make a quick buck on eBay or Depop? 

I think that as Christians we should seek to change the culture. In the first few centuries of the Church, Christians slowly convinced society to abolish infanticide. How? By changing the culture. They convinced the people that such practice was evil beyond measure and they presented a better way to live. If we want to see companies, politicians, and people value people over money it is up to us to show them why they should. We must remember 1 Timothy 6:10 but also Matthew 22:37-39 which says, “He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.’”. The contrast is clear. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, but the love of God is the root of all kinds of goodness, and we show this love of God by loving our fellow man.