A wave of U.S. states is considering overhauls to gambling laws and updating regulations meant to protect consumers who exhibit signs of problem gambling. Media outlets have picked up on a particular angle, young men and the allure of sports betting, producing stories in North Carolina, New York, and Florida, as well as in the New York Times, CNN, and Rolling Stone.
Indeed, with the proliferation of legal sports betting in 39 states since the Supreme Court’s 2018 Murphy v. NCAA ruling, there have been upticks in problem gambling among men, and the average age of callers to help hotlines has dropped in certain states from 43 to 38. But the state of problem gambling is not as dire as critics of legalization would have you believe, and the best results for curbing self-destructive behaviors are coming from the states that both legalize and craft targeted regulations.
First, there is nothing trivial about young people and minors getting caught up in an addiction to gambling — it does happen, and the consequences of it can be serious. However, media coverage of individual anecdotes needs to be interrogated, and when you look beneath the surface of news reports across different markets, you see basic errors repeatedly disseminated.
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For example, it’s true that Florida’s gambling helpline spiked 138% since legal sports betting launched in 2023, according to data compiled by the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling.
There was a similar 121% increase in Massachusetts, only for the state Department of Public Health to later reveal that half of the calls were mistakenly placed by players seeking tech support.
As Guy Bentley of the Reason Foundation notes, “Conflating a spike in helpline volume with a spike in gambling disorder is a category error.”
Similarly, a new report by the Consumer Choice Center also showed deceptive upticks in problem gambling. In particular, the National Council on Problem Gambling’s 2024 Survey showed that after the 2021 peak of COVID-19 lockdowns, unemployment, and stimulus checks, risky gambling behaviors dropped by 27%.
Participation in sports betting declined marginally in the same period as normalcy resumed. It’s worthwhile to be on the lookout for anomalies in these trends and identify regulatory gaps that can lead consumers to make serious financial mistakes.
Connecticut legalized online sports betting in 2021, with a competitive market structure and a 13.75% tax, and now has a lower problem-gambling rate than before. The state paired legalization with strict debit-only deposit rules, statewide self-exclusion, and funding for a helpline, thereby smothering the illicit market where consumers are incredibly vulnerable to scams, blackmail, and hacks.
When it comes to personal stories, WESH 2 reported on a young man named Jacob who became addicted to gambling in 2021, after friends recommended several illegal sites to him, unregulated by Florida. After developing a problem in an online ecosystem characterized by credit card use, crypto, and aggressive advertising to rope back in troubled players, Jacob only then migrated to the newly regulated options in Florida. These things happen.
ABC7 reported on a young man who had secretly wagered more than $100,000 by the age of 16, somehow circumventing state casino rules and age verification measures. New York is now considering biometric age verification and penalties for sharing accounts with underage users.
The real story isn’t a lack of law forbidding this sort of activity — rather, it’s the determination of certain people to thwart those measures.
Young men disproportionately break the law, get into trouble, and engage in all manner of risky behaviors, including smoking, speeding, drinking, and gambling, that can best be explained as a biological disadvantage when it comes to rational decision-making under 25.
There will always be compelling stories of addiction and misfortune related to gambling, just as there are with drinking, drug use, or pornography. A Puerto Rican man drained his 401(k) and accrued $50,000 in debt related to OnlyFans.
Industry and advocates of prohibition will always disagree on the best course of action to reduce harm from placing bets. Laws that empower users to set their own caps on deposits and losses can be effective, as can self-exclusion lists, but even if you go further and restrict certain game types and prop bets, consumers can always find them through illicit means.
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The same can be said for punitive tax rates. Illinois has raised its rate as high as 40% on sports betting revenues, along with a 25- to 50-cent-per-wager fee. The Illinois Gaming Board proclaimed that the total number of bets placed fell by 15% from September to October last year. Incentivizing consumers to shift their bets across state lines or overseas ultimately does not help anyone, especially problem gamblers.
Sports betting, as well as any other form of gambling, is best not to be regulated in a panic. Watch how consumers behave, create controlled environments to mitigate harm, and remember — for the vast majority of players, it’s just good fun.
Stephen Kent is media director for the Consumer Choice Center. Follow him on X @StephenKentX.