system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is gambling so restricted in the US?

In Britain, placing bets on football on a weekend is a huge part of sporting culture. Why is it not legal to do so in the USA? What is the legal status of other types of betting (casinos, for example)?
gpt
TLDR:  Religion in the past, corruption in the present.

Originally gambling was restricted on religious grounds.

Then it was restricted because of inertia (restrictions already on the books and nobody cared enough to have them repealed).  Sometime in the second half of the 20th century, states discovered how much money they could make by having a monopoly on gambling through the state lottery.

Recently many states have opened casinos, but typically licensing is rigged so a few businesses with good political connections are decently shielded from competition.