John Semley on the Gamblification of America
On this episode of The Nation Podcast, John Semley on the dangers of accessible sports betting.

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For sports fans in the US, betting has never been more common, or more accessible. But beneath the surface of this booming pastime, a darker story is unfolding. Writer John Semley joins the podcast to examine the implications of all this access, not just in American sports, but across global betting markets, and how our era of gambling reflects a new world order some economists are calling "casino capitalism." Semley’s feature, “Casino Capitalism 2.0,” appears in the June issue of The Nation.
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For sports fans in the US, betting has never been more common, or more accessible. But beneath the surface of this booming pastime, a darker story is unfolding. Writer John Semley joins the podcast to examine the implications of all this access, not just in American sports but across global betting markets, and how our era of gambling reflects a new world order some economists are calling “casino capitalism.” Semley’s feature, “Casino Capitalism 2.0,” appears in the June issue of The Nation.
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Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
A hotel for Thatcher’s fallen soldiers in the Falkland Islands. A hospital for Rikers inmates. A home for workers in the offshore fossil fuel industry.
These are just a few of the past lives of “Jascon 27” – a Scandinavian ship that is the subject of writer Ian Kumekawa’s new book, Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge.
The Vessel is, of course, a ship that transports people and goods. But, as journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian notes, and Kumekawa’s book reveals, it is also a bellwether of political movements and economic shifts, and a symbol of “the whims and desires” of corporations, nations, and individuals alike.
Abrahamian wrote about Empty Vessel in the latest issue of The Nation. She’s an independent journalist who writes about the cracks within nation-states worldwide. She is also a former editor at The Nation and Al Jazeera America, and author of The Cosmoplites: The Coming of the Global Citizen and The Hidden Globe.
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