longreads
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Is the $11 Billion Online Sportsbook Bubble About to Burst?
From Vegas to the black market to the apps in your pocket, inside the sports betting boom that’s taken over America
- You Bet
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Untangling the Mystery of the Art God
For a decade, one writer tried to unravel the story of Dorje Chang, whose artwork sold for millions and who claimed to be the third coming of Buddha. Then he got an email: Dorje Chang and his wife were dead. What really happened?
- Exclusive
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Inside the Growing and Controversial World of Wildlife-Killing Contests
Millions of dollars have been doled out in competitions in which hundreds of animals could be shot. And they're stirring up a culture war among hunters over questions of what it means to be an ethical hunter
- The hunt
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A Gun Law the NRA Opposes Could Have Saved Its Employee’s Life
The NRA previously supported red-flag gun laws, which are meant to protect people like Dawn, an NRA staffer who was killed by her husband
- Close to Home
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Inside the $621 Million Legal Battle for the 'Soul of the Internet'
Major record labels have sued the online library Internet Archive over thousands of old recordings, raising the question: Who owns the past?
- Exclusive
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It Was Supposed to Be a Sting Operation. Did ICE Traffic Drugs Instead?
Operation Mayan Jaguar had plans to roll up cocaine networks in the mid-2000s by secretly unleashing some two-dozen private planes — but it went haywire
- Air America
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An Oil Field, an Explosion, and a Man’s Fight for His Life
When oil workers like Jeff Springman get oil from tanks, they come face to face with toxic gases — and it can cost them their lives
- Breath of Death
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‘A Fyre Fest Feeling’: Inside the ‘Chaos’ of MrBeast’s New Reality Show
Beast Games is set to be the largest reality show in history. But as one crew member said echoing several sources, “There’s a reason why this level of production hasn’t been attempted before”
- Exclusive
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Can a Weed Hustler Go Legit?
A trip through the wild, winding world of New York City’s legal (and not-so-legal) cannabis market
- grass ain’t greener
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The CIA Sent Him Deep Undercover to Spy on Islamic Radicals. It Cost Him Everything
A deep-cover CIA officer spent years underground trying to infiltrate Al Qaeda. But an investigation into his life, work, and death reveals mystery, moral quagmires, and the secret toll of the War on Terror
- Surfer, Scholar, Jihadist, Spy
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