Gambling on sports has always been with us. People have wagered on horses, cards, even on who could hit a rock with a stick the farthest. The urge to test fate seems hardwired, part of the same circuitry that drives us to reach for one more drink or one more spin. What's changed is proximity. The casino now buzzes in our pockets. There's no need for a bookie or a backroom. A tap of a screen is enough to start the reels turning.

The arrests last week of NBA players and coaches show how easily temptation adapts. The details sound like pulp fiction--rigged poker games, insider tips, mafia connections--but the larger story is quieter and closer to home. Legal digitized gambling has slipped into daily life, rebranded as entertainment and sold as freedom. The phone has become a slot machine that never closes.

A generation ago, a gambling scandal might have meant a smoky room and an envelope of cash. Now the currency is information--injury reports, minutes, matchups traded as commodities. Technology has made betting frictionless, and corruption travels the same route. When a wager can be placed with a thumb, ethics are one click behind.

Americans have always had a complicated relationship with chance. The Puritans condemned dice yet saw fortune as a kind of verdict from God. The frontier turned risk-taking into virtue: You took your shot, won or lost, and called it enterprise. From lotteries that built........

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