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Foreign It's Friday, March 13, 2026. I'm Albert Mohler, and this is the Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. Well, we've been talking a lot about the vast expansion in gambling, sometimes referred to as legalized gaming. It has to do, of course, with any kind of system in which you are making a wager, you're placing a bet against some kinds of odds, and of course, there are winners and losers. And of course, one of the big moral lessons, that when you have something like a casino or any kind of organized gambling effort, the house always wins, otherwise it ceases to be all right. We've also talked about two giant dimensions of this that ought to have the attention of all Christians. And the first dimension is the radical expansion of gambling into dimensions that aren't legally defined as gambling yet. And the prediction markets are the biggest thing here. So they're treated as a financial market, but they are gambling markets largely on future events. So this works in that you can place a wager at, I'll just call it a bet on future events. The big platforms are Kalshi and polymarket. And these events can range from will this actress wear this color at the Oscars, the Academy Awards ceremony, right down to will Iran strike? I'm not going to name a country here, but will this event take place and will this happen? And of course, there are moral complexities here. They're just massive. And speaking of warfare, there are some very troubling prediction market wagers that were made with people who, well might have had inside information about, for example, the combined American and Israeli military action against Iran. And honestly, there's also the danger that people will make decisions based upon the outcomes of some of these prediction markets. It's just a perverse incentive. Everywhere you look at it, it's a horrible corruption of the entire picture. But there's big money to be made. And that big money is not only to be made by the platforms. The big money is to be made also, in many cases by governments at various levels. They're going to take the government slice out of this. That's exactly why we have lotteries in so many states. That's why so many states have gone to state legalized betting in casinos or other forms, because they're taking a cut. And trust me, government loves to take a cut. And it's amazing. The people who were absolutely against gambling in any form are all of a sudden, many of them for it. And then the state or the other entity becomes absolutely dependent upon that money that comes in from that, that gambling income, not to mention the fact that the gambling industry is just exploding. But you know, here's the deal. And when you look at any kind of product that requires participants or customers, if you need people involved in this enterpr, either wagering money on the prediction markets or in a casino, either one, you've got to get younger people involved. And so the two things we've talked about, number one, the spread into these new forms of gambling that aren't even legally defined yet as gambling. And secondly, the big pattern we're looking at is that there is a disproportionate vulnerability in terms of new people being brought into gambling to young men. And we're talking about teenage boys and young men, high school and college age and 20something men. And we're talking about the fact that they are uniquely vulnerable to this. And one of the areas of vulnerability has to do with the male, well, let's just say the male psyche, the male way of understanding the world, which is generally based in the thrill of competition, often tied to sports and far more likely to involve risk taking than the stereotypical female experience. Now that's why we're talking about it today. It's because there's an article, as is so often the case, a report that is about one thing that turns out from a Christian perspective to turn out to be about something else as well that's not even, perhaps even recognized in the article. So here's the article. It's by Hannah Aaron Lang from the Wall Street Journal. Now, when people understand money and you talk about prediction markets and all the rest, no one understands markets like the Wall Street Journal. Here's the headline. Women Wanted Kalshi pushes to Expand Far Beyond Sports Bets. Okay, folks, this is going to be really interesting. It turns out that a lot of these platforms, Kalshi in particular, but across platforms of gambling or wagering, one of the big things is that sports is the center of much of it. And this goes back to, you know, bookies on the corner in major cities when men would come up and place bets. It goes back to the basis of organized crime in the gambling syndicates. So much of it is men and young men betting on sporting events. You know, I'll take this, this will be my spread. I think I'll take this team over that team. I'll take this boxer over that boxer. This kind of thing has gone on mostly illegally all throughout the United States. And of course it's a worldwide phenomenon. And you can, you know, this is why? You know, you could go to all kinds of areas around the world and it could be fights between chickens. You know, it's a thing and all kinds of other events. And gambling is right at the center of it. You can have horses running around a track, whatever. A lot of it has to do with that kind of performance. When it comes to women, it's not true that there are no women involved in sports betting, but it is true that sports betting is overwhelmingly male and entrance into it right now is overwhelmingly young men, young males, teenage boys, and college students. And we've talked about this. There's a direct targeting. But looking at it in mirror image, what's really interesting about this article is that these platforms, they're always looking for more business. And so that means they want more young men coming in, but it also means they want to entice young women into the picture. Okay, so this is where things get really interesting. Kalshi is looking to reach beyond its base of young men by offering bets on everything from politics to the economy to pop culture. The the efforts are paying off. The company says women now account for 26% of users on its platform, up from 13% ten months ago. One of the co founders of Kalshi said, quote, ten years from now, I think the breakdown of the population on Kalshi is going to be a matchup of the breakdown in the population in the U.S. now I'm going to go out on a limb and say I think that's probably an inflated hope. And the reason I think that is because as becomes very clear in this article, when it comes to risk taking, here's the bottom line. Young women are not so prone to take risks as young men. Now I told you there's an embedded story in here I don't even think the Wall Street Journal recognizes and this has to do with the creation order differences between men and women. And it does come out. The differences come out. So for example, when it comes to prediction markets, many young college age women reflected in this article see college age young men betting in the prediction markets and think, you guys are nuts. This is a ridiculous enterprise. Can't you see through this? These young women, college age young women are far less likely to enter into this than young men. Partly because when you have young men together, you have a social context. Well, let's just say the social context of a lot of young women together is just different. Now a long time ago, I heard a father say that he had never heard one of his girls say to another girl, hey, watch this. He said, no, you hear that? It's a 13 year old boy about to jump off the roof. Making my point. Just a few paragraphs into the Wall Street Journal report, we read this. Quote, not everyone is sold on the idea. Stella Case, a 19 year old student in Massachusetts, said she was surprised when members of her college investing club, who are mostly male, said they have tried prediction markets. Quote, I don't think you're investing in a real asset, you're investing in an outcome. Said Case, quote, who prefers traditional investments like stocks and exchange traded funds. Quote, it really doesn't speak to my risk profile, end quote. I think that's absolutely fascinating. Let me repeat it. Quote, it doesn't really speak to my risk profile. In other words, she thinks these young men are nuts. In the very next line, Another young woman, 24 years old, quote, said that her boyfriend in college would bet on sports, but she never understood, understood the appeal. She said, quote, a lot of money seemed to be thrown away on that, end quote. So in other words, here you have a news story in which we are told that these gambling platforms, these prediction markets, are trying to reach out to women. You heard one of the co founders of the platform say, hey, we think it's going to match the demographics of the country soon. But they also acknowledge, that's to say the Wall Street Journal acknowledges, you know, there are some real barriers to get over here. And one of them is the fact that the overwhelming majority of young women look at the gambling habits of young men and they're not saying, hey, I want in on that. They're saying, you know, this is crazy. There's another tell here. Listen to this. This is directly from the article. Quote, so far this year, sports have accounted for roughly 65% of the trading volume on Kalshi and rival Polymarket. And that's according to the crypto investing firm Paradigm Polymarket, which is in partnership with Dow Jones. And of course you're not, you're talking here about Wall street establishment. So that really tells you the credibility here. 65% of the trading volume on these prediction markets is already sports. And that's just overwhelmingly young men. And here's the thing, young men, and I'll just say this from experience, all right? Young men will make a sport of gambling on sports and then make a sport of gambling on gambling on sports. And there is no end to the circle. And that's just the way it works. Parents, pastors, young women, be advised. But next I want to go to a very important essay on this issue, an opinion piece that ran at the Wall Street Journal. Okay, so the Wall Street Journal, big deal. This young man is a student at North Greenville University. That's a Southern Baptist related university there in South Carolina. And I'm glad to say good friends. And it's still astounding that you know, here a college age young man's written a piece of that has run in the Wall Street Journal. That's a big deal. So congratulations to Eli. Eli wrote a piece with the headline I'm a college student. Gen Z Sports Betting is wrecking my friends lives. It's incredibly well done. He says that last year as a college freshman, I was in a lecture hall, bored and scrolling on my phone, when something pulled me away. One of my football teammates was furiously tapping buttons on his phone. What was he doing? It turned out he was placing a $200 wager on an NBA game that night. As an 18 year old, he uses his own debit card to regularly place bets. And he's not the only one. On my campus, especially among many of my teammates, guys have become obsessed with online sports betting, sometimes spiraling into debt, end quote. In moral terms, this article is just really important. Every once in a while I say something and I just want to make it required reading for parents, required reading for all Christians who work with young people, especially with young men. In this case, just know. Know the temptation profile. All right, the article goes on and says, quote, what starts out as a seemingly harmless diversion quickly becomes a trap. This young man writes, quote, I've had friends who have lost hundreds, lied to their families and pulled away from the team, all while chasing the rush of a winning bet that may never arrive. Sports gambling, he says, was a major problem for many of my high school classmates. But it's gotten even worse in college. Now, as March madness ramps up this weekend, when wagering and betting pools are everywhere, the opportunities to get sucked into gambling apps will only increase. Well, he goes on to acknowledge that an awful lot of this is taking place in people who are officially underage. There are all kinds of ways they can do it. And listen to this quote. I have one friend who used money from a part time job to bet on NBA games. Once that was gone, he got desperate and started using a family member's linked account, burning through $600 before they caught on. Another teammate convinced his parents to allow him to make a fifty dollar bet for fun. After losing, he secretly used a shared credit card to try to recoup his losses. Another friend ended up selling his gaming console and a pair of Shoes to cover a $500 bet that didn't pan out, end quote. Okay, let me just tell you as a part of what's going on here, the risk profile of young men, adolescent boys and young men, college age young men. And frankly, it doesn't get over just with graduation from college. It just gets better as they get older and more mature. But this risk profile works in a way, I think a lot of parents and a lot of young women don't understand. That risk profile works this way. I've made a bet. I lost the bet. I have lost $50. All right, I've lost that. I got to make that back up. If I bet another $50 and I win $200, I null. I made it back up. I have gained money. And you throw, it's proverbially, you throw good money after bad. And I can just tell you that there are young men facing catastrophic realizations that frankly, can be far out of scale in terms of catastrophic experience. For a young man, he might not be absolutely certain he knows how to deal with this, and that can lead to a situation that does spiral out of control. I have to tell you, as a seminary and college president, especially as a college president, I really enjoy one paragraph in this, this piece by Eli Thompson. He writes this. I've watched friends score a few wins on smaller bets only to go on to bigger wagers and then lose it all. During last year's March Madness, one was down more than $500 and had to come clean to his family because he'd used a card linked to their accounts. His parents grounded him and cut off support For a while after that, he didn't hang out with us as much, saying he was embarrassed after the losses. Now, you have to feel for a young man like this, being embarrassed this way after losses. But you know what? I just have to say, I think one accidental gift in this article is something I wish more parents of college students paid a little attention to. I just want to be honest, we're told here his parents grounded him and, you know, took some action to cut off financial support and restriction. Let me just say, I know I want to speak as a Christian and as a college president. I just want you to know that there's something incredibly special about college age young people. I just couldn't love them anymore. They couldn't make me any happier than they do. But they are still young people. And I love in this article here, you have a young person who's a student in college and he's talking about his Friend, in this case, actually being grounded by his parents, whatever that means in this context. It's a thing. And his parents haven't stopped being parents. I just want to say to parents, I wish more Christian parents looked at something like this and recognized you may have a college student and that college student's moving into independence. I just want to say they're not there yet and you still are needed as parents. It's just an important, even sweet little angle that hops out from this. I have to say I'm just thankful every time parents show up faithfully as parents, because that's what parents have to do. All right, we're going to turn to questions. Obviously, this gambling prediction market issue is just going to spiral further and further. As always, I'm really honored by the stewardship of the questions that are sent in to me, and a lot of them just reach out to my heart. And here's one. A young man writes, quote, my wife and I have been married for almost five years and have a son. Before we were blessed with him, we had two miscarriages and have just had a third one this past week. God bless you, too. I just want to say that immediately. God bless you. He then writes, doctors have not been super helpful as to a reason why this keeps happening. We believe that life begins at conception, and I'm wondering if there's a certain point where it'd be wrong to continue to try and have more children if it keeps resulting in loss of life. I want to make a very important moral distinction here. This is not tantamount to any action undertaken by this young husband or his wife to try to terminate the life or reject the life inside of her. As a matter of fact, the entire context of this letter, of this question, it's in the context of a Christian couple desperately wanting more children. And I find nothing wrong with that. And when you look at miscarriages, well, this is where I would just encourage this couple to understand, especially when doctors can't say they know why. And there were miscarriages. And now you have a son, a little boy, and praise God for that. I don't think it is wrong to try to have more children. I do not think that miscarriages in this context are in any way your moral responsibility. You have undertaken every single one of those pregnancies with a great hope that it will lead to the birth of a child to the glory of God. And I think it's to the glory of God that you're trying to have more children. I recognize this can raise all kinds of complications. And I just pray for you and for your wife that this will become very much a matter of clarity in your heart. Let me just say it again. It is a good thing for you to want to have more children. That's a good thing. It's an unqualified, unblemished good thing you are undertaking. No wrong means to try to bring that about in the context of this question. And thus it is in God's hands. And so I with you, will trust God that he will do what is right. And I pray that that means that he will award you with the desire of your heart, which is more children. Okay, next question coming in from a 17 year old young woman. And I am hearing more and more of this conversation and I think we really need to take this question. She writes, quote, hello, I'm a senior at a classical Christian school and for the past few months I have been debating the topic of American identity with my classmate. He has come to the conclusion that in addition to citizenship and American values, the American is defined by ethnicity. He firmly believes the majority of Americans should be of Western European descent and we should limit immigration to ensure that mostly Western Europeans are becoming Americans. He believes this will strengthen our national identity and help us to form a consistent national culture. This, she writes, has forced me to think deeply about what defines an American. I've come to the conclusion that an American is a citizen of the United States who firmly upholds the American Constitution. I believe culture should be shaped from within through the kingdom building work of Christians rather than without via the ethnicity of our immigrants. However, we have yet to come to an agreement. I'm very curious what your opinion would be and frankly confused in my classmates. Conclusion. And since we share many of the same beliefs. Okay, that's the message sent to me. First of all, when I talk about things that make me happy. Receiving a letter like this from such an intelligent and eloquent young Christian, it makes me very happy. All right, so let's get to the topic at hand. This could be referred to as kinism. It can be referred to as ethnic identity being held up as a primary issue for American citizenship. Look, I don't think it's an accident that it was European cultures that gave birth to the United States. I don't think that's an accident. And I am a firm proponent of the explicit, intentional constitutional preservation of the civilizational project that is the extension of Christian civilization in the west extended to the New World. And I do not apologize for defining Americans as those who are Absolutely committed, that is to say, fundamentally committed to our constitutional order as part of a great civilizational project. In other words, I'm looking for people who will swear their allegiance to the common compact. And that means also the underlying principles of our constitutional order. And I'll go further to say that that means, I think, that many will have to have some kind of Christian influence or at least acknowledge and embrace the Christian heritage of political thinking and the trajectory of Western civilization that goes back for a matter of centuries. That, especially in leaping over from the British political system and political conversation to the American political conversation, was an intentional continuity. And I'm writing in a book project about that right now. But, okay, what I said was explicit loyalty and commitment to. And continuity with. What I didn't say is anything ethnic or racial, because I do not think in biblical terms. That's where we should begin. I think we need to begin with a common commitment. And that requires substantial agreement with, participation in and endorsement of an enthusiastic commitment to, even if necessary, sacrificial commitment to the fundamental principles that are essential to the American constitutional order as an extension of Western civilization and the goals and the principles and the goods of that civilization, which I think are all deeply rooted in Christianity. So what am I trying to say here? I'm trying to say here I want people who are absolutely committed, eagerly committed to that civilizational project and even this explicit constitutional order. Frankly, I think that there is an embedded problem which isn't just based in wrongful discrimination here. There is. There is, biblically speaking, and I think even just in terms of the American order, there's a problem with defining this in terms of race and ethnicity, period. Period. But there is also a huge problem here. I think one of the biggest problems we face, just to be honest, is there are too many people who. Who might be defined as of European descent, who are not committed to the civilizational project, who are not supportive of the principles necessary to this constitutional order, and who, quite frankly, pose a danger to this order. So I want to be clear. I want to be clear. I think that there are some people, based upon their ideological commitments, based upon their worldview, who are incompatible. And so I'll be clear. I think it's very difficult. Let's just say you bring someone from an Islamic republic to the United States. I don't think it is a racial issue in terms of the basic conflict here. I think it's a worldview collision which is the basic conflict. It's sometimes hard to keep these issues straight, but that's actually our job as Christians to do so. And that means that we need to think about these things with the honesty of this young woman writing this letter. And, you know, when I look at the question again, my heart goes out to the young man who's thinking these thoughts. And I want to encourage that young man in two directions. Number one, thinking in racial and ethnic terms about skin color. And that doesn't really help you, and I don't think that's really faithful to the biblical worldview, but centering in on the principles that must be shared and commonly affirmed and eagerly embraced by those who are part of this civilizational project and this constitutional order. I think that is the key. And let me just give you further evidence of that, not in secular terms, but in Christian terms. I think the New Testament picture of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is made up of people from every tongue and tribe and people and nation who are committed to the lordship of Jesus Christ. All right. In other words, those who are Christians have a special responsibility to understand that the issue here is not division by race, but we do understand that fundamental commitments do show. And those are the issues that are the defining, most important issues at stake. You know, to put it another way, the perpetuation of the American experiment, I think one of the most noble experiments in human history. It depends upon people coming in, being committed to this project, not subverters of the project, not over time outsiders to the project, but eager participants in that project based upon the principles that the project depends upon, the project is established upon. I think that's what's really, really important. And that means, as I say, that one of our big problems is that there are too many people who have been in America for a very long time who frankly are out of step with those principles. And I think that represents a real danger. The larger issue is I think we should want people who are joining this experiment eagerly, all in. And I think that's the fundamental issue. All right, finally, and I could speak at length about this and would under a different context, but I think this is one I can take pretty quickly. It's a letter from a 21 year old young man. He sends in the question, can a person be a Christian and a communist? He says, I'm a communist. And I've heard people say that I can't be a Christian while also being a communist. Nothing with communism seems to go against Christian beliefs. And that's the issue I'm having specifically with Marxism. Okay. I really wish I could have a face to face conversation with this young Man, I haven't received contact from a long time from someone who begins with the words, I'm a communist. Okay? So I don't know what this 21 year old young man who's honored me with the question. So hear me. I'm thanking you for honoring me by sending me the question. But I want to respond and say, I don't think you're a very good communist. I don't think you really understand communism. Communism itself, going back to the communist manifesto, going back to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is based upon religion being an illusion, a dangerous illusion. It is based in dialectical materialism, which means the denial of the existence of anything beyond the material world that is at the core of. Of communism. And like I say, that's in. All of that's in the communist manifesto, which, if anything, is the one document that defines communism. So this young man begins with the words, I'm a communist. I just want to say with all kindness, I don't think this young man's a very good communist. I think that communism is antithetical to Christianity. He also uses the word Marxism. I believe that Marxism, derivative of the same question going back to Karl Marx, is equally incompatible with Christianity. And I don't think you have to take my judgment on this because Karl Marx himself and the Marxists and the communists had made that point emphatically. But again, with young people, very much on my mind and heart. I want to speak about boyce college for just a moment. At Boyce college, we are committed to a vision of the Christian life as faithfulness in the church, in the workplace, the family and the world. And that's why we work so hard to prepare students to know the truth, follow Christ with conviction, and be ready to do whatever the lord calls them to do. I want to invite you, and I'm speaking particularly to prospective college students and parents. I want to invite you to a boyce college preview event coming on March 26th and 27th, so just a couple weeks from now in Louisville. If you're a high school student or a parent praying about college, this is the best way to see what sets Boyce college apart. You'll experience firsthand how Boyce prepares students to think, think clearly, grow in godliness, and live faithfully wherever God calls them. Your visit includes two nights of complimentary lodging and meals right here on the campus or nearby. And the registration fee is waived when you use the promo code. The briefing, all caps, one word. The briefing. You know it already. Come see how Boyce college prepares students for a lifetime of faithfulness. Register@boycecollege.com Preview. I'll hope to see you there. Thanks for listening to the Brief. For more information, go to my website@albertmohler.com youm can follow me on X or Twitter by going to x.comalbertmohler for information on the Southern Baptist Theological seminary, go to sbts.edu. for information on Boyce College, just go to boycecollege.com I'll meet you again on Monday for the briefing.