Tucker Carlson condemned “predatory” sports betting companies in the latest episode of his podcast, “The Tucker Carlson Show.”
While speaking with guest Saagar Enjeti during Tuesday’s episode, the conservative pundit launched into a rant about popular legal sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel.
“Why are people paying their gambling debts? … I don’t understand,” Carlson began. “I mean, it’s so one-sided.”
The political commentator went on to liken sports gambling to people who are “lured into” accruing college debt.
“It’s like, you’re a college student and you get credit card offers, free credit cards, and you get lured into something like this,” he continued. “You get destroyed by it, but you still have to pay your debts; so it’s all upside for them.”
Carlson added: “And then people wag their finger in your face like, ‘Oh, you’re a communist.’ Am I a communist? No, no, I’m not. If you say, ‘Why would you pay your debts? Why would you ever?’… They’re the ones who should be ashamed.”
Enjeti argued that sports betting companies shouldn’t “just [be] ashamed,” before declaring, “Our legislators should do something about it.”
Carlson, the former Fox News host, then alleged that the “people who are benefiting from DraftKings” and other companies morph the “frustration that people feel” into “race hate.”
“They basically take that momentum and they shift it into a safe direction,” Carlson said. “Like, just hate each other on the basis of the way you look.”
After Enjeti agreed, Carlson wrapped up his comments by calling the sports betting companies “the villains.”
“I’m just waiting for the guy who’s like, ‘No, no, no. The real criminals are the ones who are loaning you money at 30% interest or getting you to go bankrupt on a sports gambling app.’ Like, those are the villains,” Carlson said, before asking, “Why don’t we go after them?”
Elsewhere in the episode, Enjeti detailed the history of sports gambling. He compared the increase in gambling to the opioid epidemic, claiming it could become as bad as that “in the next 10 years.”
Watch the episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show” below.
