Saul Malek Educates Students on Dangers of Sports Betting

It seems like these days you can’t turn on your TV or look at your phone without encountering an ad for sports gambling. Once an underground vice, sports betting has now taken center stage with gamified interfaces, flashy celebrity sponsors, and full-throated support from all the major sports leagues. But while it’s a fun pastime for some, sports gambling is a crippling addiction for others, leading to debt, broken relationships, and worse.

So, to help students understand the dangers of sports betting, Millbrook School invited public speaker Saul Malek to share his experience as a recovering gambling addict. Malek, who has been featured in various national media outlets, wasn’t here to make a blanket denouncement of gambling; his goal is simply to inform anyone who will listen about the risks associated with the activity. “I am not anti-gambling, I am pro-education,” his website reads.

Malek shared his personal struggles with sports betting, beginning in middle school when he joined a fantasy baseball league, which eventually led to daily fantasy in high school. He explained that, in addition to developing a taste for the visceral emotions connected to winning and losing, he found a sense of meaning in the activity, as his fantasy success helped him connect with his peers. Essentially, he thought he’d discovered his “thing.”

However, when Malek was a sophomore in college, a friend connected him with his first bookie. After winning his first two bets, he was hooked. Soon, he was betting on obscure competitions that kept him up all hours of the night, causing him to suffer academically and socially. “This is the sort of lifestyle that I was living, where it was not only impacting my finances, it was impacting my friendships, it was impacting my relationships…it was an all-encompassing affair,” he explained. Still, he continued, increasing the amount of his wagers to feed his addiction.

“In essence, I was just building up this tolerance the same way someone addicted to drugs was.”

It was when his girlfriend left him due to his gambling-driven dishonesty that he finally understood the damage he was causing others and himself, and he sought help through Gamblers Anonymous.

Malek gave the Millbrook crowd tools for evaluating whether sports betting—or even risky stock trading—is a problem for them, and to develop healthy boundaries. As he explained, “For me, to quit has meant quitting being in those same surroundings, changing up my routine, doing things that are a lot healthier, finding healthier outlets of competition and drive that don’t require gambling.”

Drawing from his own experience, Malek also encouraged his audience to help friends who may be going down a negative path with sports betting. He advised that they should be willing to listen and support, but also learn to say “No” to avoid enabling those with a problem by lending them money for gambling.

At the end of the form, Malek answered questions from the audience, and he was available to answer further questions the next day.

More Millbrook news: