Is Sports Card Gambling Becoming A Bigger Problem?

At the amazing National YouTube get-together that Baseball Collector Mike puts on every year, I had a great conversation with Don from The Show and Me about spending responsibly in the hobby, and he encouraged me to talk about it more broadly. I also take a cue from Mike Sommer, who talks a little about finances on his Twitter.

I think this is an important discussion, since we have heard anecdotally that a lot of people have gotten into a lot of financial trouble by trying to keep up with the Joneses, or just because of the gambling nature of the hobby.

And then there’s this:

Assuming that no one is taking on debt to start a brick-and-mortar card shop, that likely means that 1 out of 9 respondents has taken on more than $10,000 in debt to buy cards. Most likely for the “gambling” nature of the hobby: ripping packs and/or joining breaks, chasing after the big hits in the hopes of scoring a big one to sell. And in their minds, they probably say they’ll pay off or down their debt, when in reality they’d probably get a shot of adrenaline and confidence and chase it down with more rips, sure they’ll hit another big one.

Interesting, the 10.8% result was at 3% for the first 100 or so respondents, until a larger “breaker” account retweeted it, and it shot up to 10.8% because of their audience.

What does this problem look like? The Athletic wrote a big story about a man who fell down a sports gambling hole. It went deep into his mindset and how people get deep into debt and hide it from family. I think the hobby’s problem probably looks extremely similar to that.

We know people are addicted to cards. Read the comments on that link. Here’s a good one:

Or read this Reddit thread (language warning). Or this one. How about this one? Here’s another, where people talk about buying into breaks for sports they don’t care about… because of the addiction. And if you think this is a new problem, here’s a Blowout thread from 2013 about breaks being gambling. There are many, many more links like that. Here’s an article about sports card addiction from way back in 2008, in case you think it’s a new problem. (It definitely may have been exacerbated by the recent happenings in the hobby.)

Courtney Recklein wrote a good article about it for Hobby News Daily earlier this year.

And I understand the temptation to spend outside of your means. For many years, I had no spare money for hobbies. I couldn’t even save for emergencies, and barely saved for retirement. My wife and I had children fairly young (25), and struggled through those first fifteen years. I could not justify spending a single dime on a sports card during that time. So after getting back into the hobby in 2003, I again exited in 2005.

I dreamed of a big financial score of some sort. We struggled. Had sports gambling been legal and as easily accessible as it is today, I definitely would have found justification for $5 a week or something. No one would see it go, and no packages would show up to give me away. And who knows where $5 would have led.

It wasn’t until 2020 that we felt any sort of financial security. I was finally able to max my employer match to my retirement account, buy reduced-price shares of my employer’s stock, and save for emergencies.

And, more relevant to this newsletter, I was able to afford to spend a little bit on sports cards. I was buying $1 and $2 cards, and splurging on the occasional blaster at Target. A $20 card was a real treat, and I rarely spent that much.

After a couple of years of that, I had a lot of cards in my collection, but I wanted to expand into “grail” cards. Cards that I was dying to show off. So later in 2023, I changed my strategy. I reduced how many cards I bought and started saving for big cards. I kept spending the same amount, but have now started a collection that excites me instead of one that feeds my addiction of receiving a package or five every day.

I’m in some private chats with some big spenders in the hobby. People spending significantly more on cards than I am able to. It’s tempting to take out savings or spend it on credit, but I have a future for myself and my kids to consider.

So I stick to a budget, and that budget is half of the money I make from my channel. The other half goes into a high-yield savings account for something big for my family. That is, of course, after I set 35% aside for taxes.

Others can apply this same concept, even without the YouTube revenue. Buy and sell cards and spend within your hobby means. If you’re spending $100, how are you funding that? Or, if you don’t want to sell, just stick to a specific budget. Or if you enjoy gambling on a game, I know that can be fun too. I have friends who do that within a budget as well.

None of this is to say that you can’t or shouldn’t spend the way you want. I just don’t think enough people are talking about the spending, gambling, and addiction problem we have in our hobby. I’m certainly not judging anyone for hobbying differently than I do. Breaks are fun! I just worry about my own ability to spend within my means when buying into breaks and ripping wax, and don’t like what my collection looks like when I do.

Why would I worry about other people’s problems?

Just this week The Lancet posted a study showing that sports gambling is a public health issue. “The harms associated with gambling are wide-ranging, affecting not only an individual's health and wellbeing, but also their wealth and relationships, families and communities, and deepening health and societal inequalities.”

That seems bad!

I receive sponsorship proposals from gambling companies for this newsletter. They pay well! I will not accept any. I know the ads are everywhere, including inserted into ESPN segments and all over your favorite sporting events. But I will not partake. I don’t want to contribute to that public health problem.

So what can someone do if they find themselves with a problem?

There is no clear “sports card addiction” help place that I could find. The best candidate is probably the National Council on Problem Gambling. If you or someone you know has a problem, I would start with them.

If you have a card addiction problem and would like to share your story, please reply to this email and let’s talk. I will keep you anonymous.