A vice is a vice until its not.
How did gambling, once called by Walter Rauschenbusch the vice of the savage, become a glittering virtue of the American dream?
Gambling, particularly for Baptists, has long been condemned. From Billy Sunday to Billy Graham, sermons against gambling poured from pulpits, especially in the South from Southern Baptists. There is no easy answer to how the South moved from the Bible Belt to the Gambling Belt.
Riverboat casinos are now ubiquitous on the Mississippi and Red Rivers. The heart of the Bible Belt, Shreveport/Bossier City, welcomed at least four riverboats with open arms. There are 28 casinos in Louisiana, 29 in Mississippi and four in Alabama. Gambling opportunities have spread like kudzu along I-10 …
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