I didn’t need a full second after saying “Hello” to recognize the deep, kind, authoritative voice on the other end of the phone call. “Brother Rodger,” he began. I knew the caller from at least three settings: church, civic club, plus he was my banker.

About fifteen years ago, The New York Times Magazine did a cover story on electronic gambling machines. The reporter toured the Nevada headquarters of America’s biggest gambling machine maker, International Gaming Technology. During the tour he asked the IGT employees if they ever used the machines they made. The answer was no.

Last May in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law cannot prevent states from sanctioning and promoting sports gambling. The litigation was cloaked as a “states’ rights” issue, but was actually conceived by powerful gambling interests and corrupt politicians.