Speaking over excited whispers and the rapid-fire shutters of watching cameras, the man placed two bets: the New Jersey Devils to win the 2019 Stanley Cup, and Germany to win the 2018 World Cup. Turning triumphantly to the crowd, the gambler, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, presented his tickets as proof that legal sports betting had come to New Jersey.

The date was June 14, 2018. A month prior, the Supreme Court’s Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association decision struck down the national ban on sports gambling, opening the floodgates for what is now an inescapable industry. In the five years since Governor Murphy’s inaugural bets (both of which lost), sports betting has transformed from a once-illicit vice into a popular hobby. It’s now legal in thirty-three states, sports books sponsor every major sporting event, and sixty-four million Americans, myself included, have collectively wagered over $220 billion on everything from the Super Bowl to South Korean table tennis.

As a recreational bettor myself, I have enjoyed the hobby (and the extra pocket change it has provided), but I have also witnessed the dark sides of legal betting, which are seldom acknowledged by the booming industry.