America is scaling sin in real time. We're all paying for it. (axios.com)

Las Vegas has long been known as Sin City for its 24/7 access to all kinds of indecencies. America is quickly becoming Sin Nation. Or, as President Trump put it while discussing prediction markets in the Oval Office last month: "The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino." Why it matters: Once-forbidden vices — weed, gambling and porn — are no longer confined to back alleys or the desert. They're ubiquitous, digital and spreading at a pace that has outstripped the country's social and regulatory guardrails. Governments didn't turn a blind eye to most of this behavior. They encouraged it. We're scaling sin in real time. This shift in American governance, both at the national and local levels, didn't play out all at once — or get kick-started by a singular moment. It happened in a thousand small ones, one app launch and regulatory retreat at a time. New York Times columnist Ross Douthat made sense of our "more immoral society" this way: "As our laws have become less moralistic and more libertarian, addictive behaviors have increased." Substacker Derek Thompson points out that in a 2023 Wall Street Journal poll , Americans said patriotism, religion, having children and community all mattered less to them than in years prior. The only metric that mattered more? Money. The biggest factors that ushered in our more addicted, money-hungry America: 1. Smoking weed. Not long ago, you might've gone to jail for using pot, much less selling it. Now, it's legal for a vast swath of Americans and serves as a primary tax engine for nearly half the country. 24 states plus D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana, with 40 states allowing medical use. The Trump administration ordered the reclassification of medical marijuana as a Schedule III drug last month, moving it from alongside heroin and ecstasy to the same category as steroids and ketamine. States have collected nearly $25 billion in cannabis tax revenue since the first legal sales began in 2014, according to the Marijuana Policy Project — with 2024 alone setting a record at $4.4 billion. California topped $1 billion by itself. 2. Betting. There's no reason to visit a sportsbook when you have one in your pocket. That lack of friction is destroying the lives — and arguably the morality — of countless young Americans, even as it fills state coffers . More than half of American men ages 18-49 have an account with an online sportsbook, per a Siena poll out last month. 63% of bettors said they'd bet $100 or more in one day. 31% reported having someone express concern about their sports betting, up from 23% last year. A UCLA study found bankruptcy rates and debt collection amounts rose in states that legalized sports betting — with young men in low-income areas hit hardest. Prediction markets have raised the stakes beyond sports. They're not technically gambling — that's what their founders say , even as the public and some state prosecutors disagree. But their purview goes far beyond prop b