Overview
- The Atlantic released its April cover story detailing a funded, season-long betting project that gave Coppins $10,000 to wager with losses covered and any winnings split.
- Coppins, a practicing Mormon with no prior gambling history, pursued the assignment after consulting his bishop for permission.
- By the Super Bowl he had lost $9,891, described compulsive behaviors that intruded on family and church, and filed a self-exclusion to block betting in Virginia.
- The reporting situates his experience within the rapid rise of app-based sports betting and prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, with odds now embedded in mainstream media.
- Industry figures and gambling sites, including Unabated, criticized the article after publication, disputing its framing and his approach.