Supreme Court legalized sportsbooks, paving the way for massive growth in sports gambling
of ConsumerAffairsA new study finds adramatic increase in sports betting and gambling addiction help-seeking since the landmark Murphy v. NCAA Supreme Court decision in 2018 paved the way for states to legalize sports betting.
The study was published inJAMA Internal Medicineand led by researchers from the University of California San Diego.
When the Supreme Court legalized sportsbooks a venue where people can wager on various sports competitions in Murphy v. NCAA, public health experts paid little attention, said the studys senior author John W. Ayers, Ph.D. Now, sportsbooks have expanded from a single state to 38 states, with hundreds of billions of wagers, mostly online, coinciding with record-breaking demand for help with gambling addiction as millions seek help.
Unprecedented growth in sports betting
Since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling, the study documents staggering growth in the sportsbook industry:
- The number of states with operational sportsbooks grew from 1 in 2017 to 38 in 2024.
- Total sports wagers skyrocketed from $4.9 billion in 2017 to $121.1 billion in 2023, with 94% of wagers during 2023 placed online.
Sports betting has become deeply embedded in our culture, said Matthew Allen, a third-year medical student. From relentless advertising to social media feeds and in-game commentary, sportsbooks are now everywhere. What was once a taboo activity, confined to the fringes of society, has been completely normalized.
A blindspot
Despite gambling addiction as a recognized disorder ... it remains largely overlooked in healthcare and public health with no formal ongoing surveillance, said Kevin Yang, M.D., a third-year resident physician in the Department of Psychiatry. Without systematic surveillance, we are flying blind while millions bet on sports.
To fill this gap, the research team analyzed aggregate Google search trends for queries that mentioned gambling, addiction, addict, anonymous or hotline, from January 1, 2016, through June 30, 2024.
Many people struggling with addiction dont openly discuss it, but they do turn to the internet for answers, said Davey Smith, M.D., professor of medicine. By analyzing search trends, we can gain real-time insight into the true scale of gambling addiction in the U.S.
Record Levels of Gambling Addiction
Parallel with the growth in sportsbooks, internet searches for help with gambling addiction, such as am I addicted to gambling, have cumulatively increased 23% nationally since Murphy v. NCAA through June 2024. This corresponds with approximately 6.5 to 7.3 million searches for gambling addiction help-seeking nationally, with 180,000 monthly searches at its peak.
By state, the opening of sportsbooks consistently corresponded with increased demand for gambling addiction help seeking:
- Illinois (35%),
- Massachusetts (47%),
- Michigan (37%),
- New Jersey (34%),
- New York (37%),
- Ohio (67%),
- Pennsylvania (50%) and
- Virginia (30%).
These states all experienced significant increases in gambling addiction-related searches following the opening of any sportsbooks in their state.
Online sportsbooks drive greater risk
The study found that online sportsbooks had a substantially greater impact on gambling addiction help-seeking than traditional brick-and-mortar sportsbooks. For example, in Pennsylvania:
- The introduction of retail sportsbooks led to a 33% increase in gambling addiction help seeking searches during the five months before online sportsbooks launched.
- When online sportsbooks became available, searches surged 61%a significantly greater and more sustained increase that persisted for years
Health reforms needed
The expansion of legalized sports betting to always be at arms reach has outpaced our ability to understand and address its public health consequences, said Nimit Desai, a third-year medical student. Our findings are a wake-up call for policymakers, healthcare professionals and public health advocates to act now.
To reducethe risks posed by the expansion of sports betting, the researchers recommend interventions increased funding for addiction treatment, stronger advertising regulations and stronger safeguards for online sportsbooks,including betting limits, age limits, enforced breaks and restrictions on credit card use for gambling.
Sportsbook regulations are lacking because the Supreme Court, not legislators, legalized them, concluded Ayers. Congress must act now by passing commonsense safeguards. History has shown that unchecked industrieswhether tobacco or opioidsinflict immense harm before regulations catch up. We can either take proactive steps to prevent gambling-related harms or repeat past mistakes and pay the price later."
The article, Growing Health Concern Regarding Gambling Addiction in the Age of Sportsbooks is available online on the JAMA Internal Medicine website.
Posted: 2025-02-18 01:02:47
