With the Super Bowl in the recent past, sports fans have now embraced March Madness, which is the annual college basketball celebration of underdogs and teams of destiny.

With that embrace come inevitable opportunities for gambling, from low-yield bracket selections among friends and family to high-risk programs for the serious (and often addicted) professional.

The American Gaming Association estimated that $1.76 billion was wagered on Super Bowl LX. Last year, $3.1 billion was wagered on March Madness games, with that number expected to increase this year in the coming weeks.

I focus on addictive behaviors in my work with young men, with pornography and video gaming being two of the most common problems. Digital sports gambling has not been on my radar until very recently. What has changed?

In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports betting, drawing a clear line of demarcation. Estimates indicate that legal sports gambling increased from $5 billion annually to $150 billion. I find that number staggering.

Back in the day, if you wanted to place a sports bet, you had to know a guy who knew a guy. You called in a bet through the telephone or met up in some bar or back alley. Think Goodfellas.

Now, sports betting is legal and digital. The same three As that contributed to the rise of problematic pornography consumption also are fueling gambling addiction: accessibility, anonymity and affordability. Young men can download an app on their phone and start betting within minutes. The app is sleek, easy to use, and has built-in incentives to start gambling — and to keep gambling.

Of course, you can link payment to a credit card and never have to handle cash. No one needs to know who you are, and digital gambling does not require any telephone calls or late-night meetups in seedy places.

Compounding the three As are new forms of betting called “prop bets,” wagers on almost anything about the game except the outcome. You can bet on who scores a touchdown or how many goals a hockey player will score in a period.

Prop bets fuel constant engagement and appeal to instant gratification. Why wait for the end of a game to collect when you can make a bet right now and get an instant payout?

Unfortunately, we know that the house always wins in the end. Gambling, like pornography and video gaming, has become yet another form of escapism, fantasizing, and a way in which young men isolate from others and avoid reality. Spiritually, young men consumed with gambling can be like the soldiers who were casting lots for Jesus’ garments at the foot of his cross (Matthew 27:35). They lose sight of God who is right in front of them. All of this adds up to an ongoing attack on young men’s maturation, identity and dignity.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2413) teaches that gambling is not inherently immoral. For example, I ran a March Madness bracket poll for several years at my place of work. It was community-building and fun, as everyone taped their brackets to the hallway wall. Instead of talking around the water cooler, we talked around the brackets. There was no cash prize. The prize was bragging rights, based on who could pick winners using the most creative methodology.

One year, a colleague “won” by picking teams based on whether she had a T-shirt from the school. According to the Catechism, gambling becomes immoral under certain conditions — for example, if it deprives an individual or others of basic needs, enslaves freedom, or involves cheating.

Psychology has reached a similar conclusion, albeit without moral considerations. Gambling itself is not considered a clinical disorder or addiction. People can buy a lottery ticket, fill out a March Madness bracket, or engage in a friendly game of poker in good fun without being addicted or meeting diagnosable criteria.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the guide used by mental-health professionals, lists Gambling Disorder under the category of Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders. In short, gambling becomes a disorder when the behavior is persistent, distressing and leads to impairment.

It is common knowledge that young men ages 18 to 25 engage in more sports gambling than women and are at disproportionately greater risk for addiction. In fact, recent studies have identify being a young, single man as a distinct risk factor for gambling disorder.

Unfortunately, recent news stories and clinical cases highlight how a fun hobby with the guys can quickly morph into a destructive addiction and clinical disorder. The results are devastating: entire savings accounts wiped out, failing out of school. Not surprisingly, research shows that gambling disorder is associated with depression, substance abuse, domestic violence, bankruptcy and high suicide rates.

Yes, sports are fun and can be vehicles of virtue through disciplined hard work with others. Pope St. John Paul II was an advocate of sports and a sportsman himself. Pope Leo XIV is fond of tennis. The recently canonized St. Pier Giorgio Frassati was an athletic mountain climber, consistent with his “To the heights!” motto.

Yes, technology can be useful and is part of our lives. But it must serve the human person and uphold human dignity. Canonized along with St. Pier Giorgio, St. Carlos Acutis is a model for the ordered use of digital technology for the good. In this era of constant assaults on young men, the Church has presented two young men as saintly models of the glory of God, which is man fully alive.

Digital sports gambling can distract, deprive and disorder young men from their call to holiness and health. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be going away anytime soon. The Church will need to respond with a full-court press.