In the News: ALCAP’s Greg Davis on Gambling

Recently, ALCAP President and CEO Greg Davis was interviewed by CBS 42 to discuss sports betting in Alabama. You can read the resulting article here. Although some sports betting is legal in Alabama, such as gambling on horse racing, most of it is not. ALCAP works hard to protect the citizens of Alabama from the predatory nature of the gambling industry.

Proponents of legalizing gambling often will point to the increased tax revenue that the industry provides. Critics will point out that no amount of tax revenue can make up for the fact that gambling destroys lives and brings with it a host of other issues, such as poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism, and more.

In the interview, Greg Davis talked about the importance of having anti-gambling laws in place. “If something is illegal, it makes people think ‘Why is this illegal? There must be a reason this is illegal’, where if you remove that a lot more people are going to participate. Sports betting has become very predatory,” says Davis. “This isn’t just your grandfathers betting on the line one Saturday to the next, what you see on the television now is very predatory.”