The world of sports gambling was almost totally invisible to me, and I now realize that by helping my friend, and listening to his lengthy monologues about the difficulties of accessing private networks also favored by serial copyright violators in order to place quasi-legal wagers with Irish sports-betting websites, I had been given a window into what would soon become a vanished universe. “Make sure you get a drink,” my friend told me.

My friend had placed the wager at a somewhat down-market sportsbook the last time he had been in town-a frequent occurrence, from what I gather-but for one reason or another, he was unable to retrieve his winnings in person.

About five years ago, I traveled for work to Las Vegas, where, at the behest of a friend who would almost certainly fit the New York State Office of Addiction Services’ definition of a problem gambler, I collected on a bet.