Revisiting How Sports Betting Hurts Young Adults

Gambling,

There is evidence that mobile sports betting apps may use the same addictive technology as other tech platforms to hook people on gambling.

Young people are particularly vulnerable. Research shows that gambling is more addictive for college-aged individuals. Player prop bets let college students to engage in “micro-betting,” a more repetitive — and therefore more addictive — form of sports betting.

Twenty-year-old males account for approximately 40% of calls to gambling addiction hotlines, and upwards of 20 million men are in debt or have been in debt as a result of sports betting.

The numbers in Arkansas are alarming. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Arkansans wagered a staggering $655 million on sports betting last year. State tax revenue data shows that more than 90% of sports wagers are now placed through mobile apps.

Mobile betting has caused a wave of financial misery. One writer at The Atlantic described the impact as “a wave of financial and familial misery” for households that are least able to afford it. A UCLA study found that states with online sportsbooks saw credit scores decline three times as much as states with only physical betting locations.

Internet searches for gambling addiction help have skyrocketed. Researchers found a 35% increase in searches for gambling addiction terms in Illinois and a 37% increase in Michigan following the legalization of mobile sportsbooks.

Arkansas families are seeing the consequences. In 2024, the Arkansas Problem Gambling Council announced a 22% increase in calls for help with problem gambling — driven largely by sports betting.

Arkansas families need to understand that mobile sports betting isn’t harmless entertainment — it’s predatory technology that fosters addiction and hurts families and communities.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Good News: Supreme Court Sides with Parents Against California Public Schools’ Secret Gender Transition Policies

Transgender,

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a group of parents who challenged California’s secret social gender transition policy.

The policy requires public school teachers and administrators to hide children’s gender dysphoria and social gender transition from parents.

While the decision is not a final ruling, the justices indicated the parents are likely to win their case and restored a lower court injunction blocking the school policy while the lawsuit proceeds.

This is a good decision that protects children and upholds parental rights.

In January, Family Council actually joined 65 other organizations in a legal brief in the case, because over the years, we have seen pro-LGBT activists nationwide use public schools to promote transgender ideology and gender confusion to kids.

Last year the U.S. Department of Education announced it was investigating four school districts in Kansas after a complaint alleged that school officials let male students into females’ private spaces and sports at school and hid students’ sexual identity confusion from their parents.

Over the summer, Family Council joined dozens of other pro-family organizations from across the country in an amicus brief regarding a New York school district that treated a middle-school girl as if she were a boy without her mother’s knowledge or consent.

Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom have spoken out about how schools are hiding gender confusion from parents. But policymakers, legal experts, educators, and parents are pushing back.

Arkansas has been a leader when it comes to passing laws that block radical pro-LGBT ideology in the classroom and help prevent schools from socially transitioning children.

Federal court cases like the one in California can affect schools nationwide. That’s why this Supreme Court decision is so significant: It helps us stand up for students and parents not just in California, but all across the nation.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Spain’s Top Court Says 25-Year-Old Woman Paralyzed After Attempted Suicide Now Qualifies for Assisted Suicide

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, , , ,

Media outlets report that Spain’s top court has approved assisted suicide for a woman who became paralyzed after attempting suicide.

Noelia, 25, from Barcelona, attempted suicide multiple times before an October 2022 attempt left her paralyzed and in chronic pain. Two years later, she received approval for assisted suicide under Spain’s euthanasia policies.

Noelia’s father asked the Spanish court to block his daughter’s death, arguing that she suffers from a personality disorder that impairs her judgment and saying she has responded well to rehabilitation treatment.

However, Spain’s Constitutional Court rejected the father’s appeal on February 20, ruling there was “no violation of fundamental rights.” The decision clears the way for Noelia to end her life.

Obviously, this story underscores the concerns that pro-life advocates and others have raised about assisted suicide and euthanasia.

When someone attempts suicide, the proper response is compassionate care and treatment — not a prescription for lethal drugs.

Unfortunately, situations like the one in Spain may be more common than many people realize.

Testimony out of Canada shows that people with a history of attempting suicide have been approved for assisted suicide and euthanasia under Canadian law.

In 2024, a Canadian judge authorized an autistic 27-year-old woman to seek assisted suicide. In her case, the court ruled that dying would actually be better than living with autism.

That same year, a 28-year-old Dutch woman was approved for euthanasia because of her depression, autism, and borderline personality disorder.

In the U.S., Oregon first allowed assisted suicide in 1998. Since then official state reports have shown again and again that people receive lethal prescriptions for assisted suicide without being referred for psychological or psychiatric evaluation.

All of this reminds us how assisted suicide actually robs people of compassionate care.

Being pro-life means believing human life is sacred from conception until natural death.

Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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