Feb 19, 2025 11:10 PM
https://reason.com/2025/02/17/gambling-a...t-surging/
EXCERPTS: A study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine claims to reveal a surge in gambling addiction following the legalization of sports betting. But does a rise in internet searches for gambling terms mean there's been an actual increase in gambling addiction?
After the Supreme Court struck down the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018, states were allowed to legalize gambling on sports—since then, 38 states and the District of Columbia have some form of legal sports betting. With the rise of legal sports betting, there's been an explosion of articles, podcasts, and studies about the potential harms of legalization.
On the surface, the study from researchers at the University of California San Diego Qualcomm Institute and School of Medicine appears to lend weight to these concerns, showing a cumulative increase of 23 percent in internet searches nationwide, relative to a counterfactual model, for help with gambling addiction as measured from 2018 through June 2024. But contrary to the study's press release, these results do not show a "surge in gambling addiction."
[...] So, what is the rate of problem gambling? According to the NCPG, the national rate of severe problem gambling among U.S. adults is 1 percent, with those experiencing mild to moderate problems making up another 2 percent to 3 percent, which is in line with the historical average.
Few states collect good data on the prevalence of problem gambling. But consider data from one that does, New Jersey. [...] If sports betting ads and apps drive big increases in problem gambling, the Garden State has yet to see it.
[...] But there's more reason to be skeptical that legal sports betting will drive a new sustained rise in gambling addiction and financial distress. When lotteries and casinos were liberalized in the 1980s and early 1990s, there was an initial increase in bankruptcies. But this effect largely disappeared after 1995. In the 2000s, with the rise of online poker and illegal internet sportsbooks, many feared there would be an increase in gambling addiction.
But in 2011, one of the world's leading experts in gambling addiction, Howard Shaffer, said the evidence "suggests that the rate of PG (pathological gambling) has remained relatively stable during the past 35 years despite an unprecedented increase in opportunities and access to gambling." Shaffer added that the extent of internet gambling for most is "astoundingly moderate." Today's sports bettors are disproportionately college-educated, earn $100,000 a year or more, and spend between $1 to $100 a month on bets.
The United Kingdom and Australia have had online sports betting for more than 20 years, and there's been no change in the rate of problem gambling. It's true that some people, especially young men, who never would've bet on sports have done so after legalization and faced difficulties from overspending.
However, the benefits of legalization have also been substantial. The vast majority of sports bets are now placed legally, compared to 3 percent before 2018 when legalization was largely confined to Nevada. Before legal sports betting, around a third of Americans were betting on sports, wagering around $150 billion a year, with money flowing through offshore sports books, with no age verification, less data protection, and with deep ties to organized crime... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: A study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine claims to reveal a surge in gambling addiction following the legalization of sports betting. But does a rise in internet searches for gambling terms mean there's been an actual increase in gambling addiction?
After the Supreme Court struck down the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018, states were allowed to legalize gambling on sports—since then, 38 states and the District of Columbia have some form of legal sports betting. With the rise of legal sports betting, there's been an explosion of articles, podcasts, and studies about the potential harms of legalization.
On the surface, the study from researchers at the University of California San Diego Qualcomm Institute and School of Medicine appears to lend weight to these concerns, showing a cumulative increase of 23 percent in internet searches nationwide, relative to a counterfactual model, for help with gambling addiction as measured from 2018 through June 2024. But contrary to the study's press release, these results do not show a "surge in gambling addiction."
[...] So, what is the rate of problem gambling? According to the NCPG, the national rate of severe problem gambling among U.S. adults is 1 percent, with those experiencing mild to moderate problems making up another 2 percent to 3 percent, which is in line with the historical average.
Few states collect good data on the prevalence of problem gambling. But consider data from one that does, New Jersey. [...] If sports betting ads and apps drive big increases in problem gambling, the Garden State has yet to see it.
[...] But there's more reason to be skeptical that legal sports betting will drive a new sustained rise in gambling addiction and financial distress. When lotteries and casinos were liberalized in the 1980s and early 1990s, there was an initial increase in bankruptcies. But this effect largely disappeared after 1995. In the 2000s, with the rise of online poker and illegal internet sportsbooks, many feared there would be an increase in gambling addiction.
But in 2011, one of the world's leading experts in gambling addiction, Howard Shaffer, said the evidence "suggests that the rate of PG (pathological gambling) has remained relatively stable during the past 35 years despite an unprecedented increase in opportunities and access to gambling." Shaffer added that the extent of internet gambling for most is "astoundingly moderate." Today's sports bettors are disproportionately college-educated, earn $100,000 a year or more, and spend between $1 to $100 a month on bets.
The United Kingdom and Australia have had online sports betting for more than 20 years, and there's been no change in the rate of problem gambling. It's true that some people, especially young men, who never would've bet on sports have done so after legalization and faced difficulties from overspending.
However, the benefits of legalization have also been substantial. The vast majority of sports bets are now placed legally, compared to 3 percent before 2018 when legalization was largely confined to Nevada. Before legal sports betting, around a third of Americans were betting on sports, wagering around $150 billion a year, with money flowing through offshore sports books, with no age verification, less data protection, and with deep ties to organized crime... (MORE - missing details)