Anthony Pompliano, the financial guru known for his early advocacy of Bitcoin, is throwing his weight behind a fledgling podcast that seeks to combat addiction – and sports gambling will be a key topic of discussion, On The Money has learned.

Betting on sports has become a $100 billion industry that is estimated to grow to $250 billion in just the next four years. Mainstream media rarely explores its downside: Addiction to a vice that destroys lives and leads to financial misery.

Now, “Pomp” is making a strategic investment in a podcast company dedicated to helping address all sorts of addictions with a special focus on gambling, where legalization and ubiquitous advertising are creating a nation of degenerates hooked on the allure of easy money – unaware that the house almost always wins.

Pomp hopes the investment – which is not public – will lead to a broader social media platform to address addictions, greater public awareness, and even a treatment center.

Pompliano’s “The Pomp Podcast” airs from a studio in Midtown Manhattan and has drawn more than 50 million downloads. He says he felt motivated as he got bombarded by all those sportsbook ads while watching football on any given Sunday. Major networks were pumping a vice that frequently leads to financial despair and which can also be a gateway to other addictions.

The final straw was listening to one of the podcasts that work out of his studios called “Nothing’s Off The Table,” a twice-weekly show by a 32-year-old recovering drug and gambling addict named Louis Ruggiero.

“The goal of Nothing’s Off The Table is to help people understand there is a way out of very dark places,” Pomp told On The Money. “The platform has a big focus on sports gambling because there is almost no support for these young people who are having sports ads shoved down their throat on every TV broadcast, at every game, or on every social media platform.”

Ruggiero, at least on its face, is the last person you’d expect to have been felled by addiction. He’s the son of a New York City attorney; his mom is Fox-5’s long-time anchor, Rosanna Scotto. (Full disclosure: Rosanna is a colleague of mine in the Fox family, and a friend.)  

But he fell hard for drugs, including opiates and gambling, while in college. He lost a business, millions of dollars, and nearly his family until he got sober four years ago. He also nearly landed in jail.

I spoke to Louis and he tells me he hit his so-called rock bottom in 2018 when he was forced to testify against his best friend at the time who was arrested and later convicted of murder. Louis was not involved in the killing, but his pal confessed the murder to him while they were both addicted to drugs, he says. 

“My podcast is designed to help people and tell them where to get help by hearing real stories, not just my own,” Ruggiero tells me. “With Anthony’s investment, we want to expand with live events about addictions, how it destroys lives and how you can recover. Over the next 18 months if we can make the business work, I plan to open an in-patient and outpatient facility.”

From a pure business standpoint, Pomp likes what he sees (he credits his business partner, Matt Marlinski with making the initial introduction). Ruggiero started his podcast a little more than a year ago, splitting his time working the door at the Scotto family’s popular Manhattan eatery, Fresco By Scotto, and doing shows just down the block at Pomp’s studios. Ruggiero’s guests have included everyone from sports stars to average people who have succumbed to addiction. His clips often go viral, generating millions of views.

What I think makes the show work is the raw honesty that Ruggiero brings to the table. He fesses up to everything: Binging on Oxy while gorging on Haagen Dazs ice cream, stealing to feed his addiction. The episode with his dad, Louis Ruggiero, Sr., was particularly poignant in its description of how parents deal with children trapped by their vices.

Ruggiero tells me his show is most beneficial because it informs people not just about the downside to addiction, but “the flipside that recovery is free.”

He adds: “Part of my message is that two programs that saved my life, Alcoholics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous are free, and there’s a community out there of people like myself that can’t be replaced by AI and have a real world knowledge of addiction and how to overcome it.”