#1757 Life is But a Game (that you can now bet on)

#1757 Life is But a Game (that you can now bet on)

Author: Best of the Left: Perspectives on Politics, Culture, and Economics December 14, 2025 Duration: 3:13:48

Air Date 12/14/2025

Albert Einstein said, "Life is just like a game, first you have to learn rules of the game, and then play it better then any one else." (Or just get some insider knowledge about which team is paid off to lose and bet on the game rather than playing it, am I right?) Now, while it's well known that sports gambling has great potential to corrupt the game, I'm sure being able to bet on literally anything in life all the time right from your phone with billionaires funding persuasion campaigns to convince you to do it will probably work out fine.

Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

Full Show Notes

Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube!

BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!)

Join our Discord community!


KEY POINTS

KP 1: America Is Losing Big on Sports Betting Part 1 - The Gray Area with Sean Illing - Air Date 8-11-25

KP 2: The Nuzzi-Lizza Show & CNN's Prediction Play - The Powers That Be: Daily - Air Date 12-5-25

KP 3: Welcome to the Casino Economy - On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti - Air Date 11-13-25

KP 4: Is the Sports Betting Industry a Huge Mistake? - Good Work - Air Date 2-9-24

KP 5: Why The New Gambling Epidemic Should Terrify You - GEN - Air Date 11-8-25


(00:46:01) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

On Best of the Left turning 20!


DEEPER DIVES

(00:49:22) SECTION A: GAMBLING ON EVERYTHING

(01:30:27) SECTION B: THE UBIQUITY OF SPORTS BETTING

(01:56:28) SECTION C: SPORTS BETTING IS BAD FOR SPORTS

02:34:14) SECTION D: GAMIFYING LIFE

SHOW IMAGE CREDITS

Description: Photo of a man staring up at multiple screens showing sports betting updates, along with a live football and hockey game, above the betting counter in a Las Vegas casino.

Credit: "Sports Betting at a Las Vegas Casino" by Baishampayan Ghose, Flickr | CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped

 

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere!

Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | X

Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft

Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com


For over fifteen years, Best of the Left-Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy has served as a vital, human-curated digest of voices from across the progressive spectrum. Instead of presenting a single opinion, each episode is built around a specific theme-from economic inequality to climate policy to cultural shifts-and weaves together insightful commentary from a diverse array of journalists, activists, and thinkers. This approach allows you to efficiently grasp the nuances of complex issues by hearing multiple expert angles in one sitting, all while discovering new commentators and sources you might not have encountered otherwise. The result is a richly layered analysis that algorithms simply cannot replicate, offering depth and context often missing from the daily news cycle. Since 2006, this award-winning podcast has cut through the noise, drawing from hundreds of independent and established sources to provide a coherent, thoughtful examination of the forces shaping our society and governments. Tuning in means joining a long-running conversation dedicated to understanding and advancing democratic principles, social justice, and a more equitable economy, all through the focused lens of leftist thought.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Podcast Episodes
#1751 Monthly-ish Mix: Institutions Fall, Reality Breaks, Empire Rises [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:47:06
Air Date: 11/11/25 The Monthly-ish Mix™ is here to get you caught up on recent news without being overwhelming! This month we examine how power is being quietly consolidated across institutions, how propaganda and AI are…
#1750 "America's Backyard" - The War on Terror Meets the War on Drugs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:05:57
Air Date 11/7/2025 The United States claiming a divine (and imperialist) right to tamper in the politics of South American countries is nothing new. As is so often the case with Trump, the biggest difference is that he's…
#1749 Democracy: In Theory, In Practice, and Under Threat [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:02:14
Air Date 11/4/2025 Elections are always coming up, some sooner than others, so we thought we would take a look at the state of our democracy and what we must do to maintain it in the face of the greatest direct assault o…
#1747 Racism in the United States, it turns out, is a problem [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:10:15
Air Date 10/28/2025 As we were looking for episode topics, I came across an article making the case that racism is a real problem in the country and that there were lots of recent examples that proved the point. And I wa…
#1746 What an actual attack on free speech looks like [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:12:46
Air Date 10/25/2025 Trump's attacks on free speech, particularly with the use of the Federal Communications Commission, goes far beyond the Jimmy Kimmel story. We're in the middle of an all-out assault on freedom of spee…
#1745 Fake New World: The Age of AI Slop, AI Education, and AI Fascism [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 4:18:56
Air Date 10/19/2025 Robber Barons™ of The Gilded Age™ told themselves stories about how they were ushering in progress for all which is why, they argued, they shouldn't be constrained by things like safety regulations or…