Sports Betting: The Wild West of Gambling
In May of 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision that was about to have life changing impacts on American society, they declared the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA) unconstitutional. The overturning of PAPSA meant that states outside of Nevada could now legalize sports betting, and since 2018, 38 states have done just that. Furthermore, 30 states have legalized online sports betting in addition to in-person sports betting, including Illinois.
In a disturbing turn of events, the group most targeted by this newfound and potentially very dangerous pastime is youth, specifically young, educated men. Online sports betting apps use a lot of the same features as video games that Generation Z (here on referred to as Gen Z) grew up playing. In line with this, researchers have found that many of the younger individuals who now struggle with problem gambling today admit that their first taste of gambling was in some of those very video games they were playing through a mechanic called “loot boxes”. Loot boxes are purchasable content in video games that allows a player to spend money for the chance at a variety of prizes or “loot” that vary in quality and rarity. Researchers have noted that the mechanism functions closely to that found with slot machines.
Online sports betting has been proving particularly worrisome not only due to the gamification of gambling for youth, but also due to the barrage of bets one can make live. Previous betting was typically limited to large long-term wagers, things like who would win the big game. Current betting still allows you to bet on that, but you can also bet on who will win the coin flip, who will get the first penalty kick, who will catch the first throw. This betting throughout the game reduces the delay between risk and reward and bettors will place more and more bets to stimulate that need to gamble. Financially speaking, apps on phones are dangerous as the bettor has easy access to their bank accounts as well as loan services. Some loan services are reported to deposit funds into a gambler’s account within minutes.
Outside of the familiarity of video games, there’s another reason sports betting has become increasingly popular with Gen Z and that’s the concept of luck vs. skill. Many people who gamble are under the false belief that whilst games like slots and the lotto are luck-based, sports betting is skill-based. With this fallacy, we are seeing an uptick in sports betting popularity on college campuses and in the more highly educated crowd. A survey of 3527 Americans consisting of primarily college students was done by the National College Athletic Association. In the published findings, 60% of survey responders reported betting on sports, with 4% doing so daily, and with 6% stating they lost more than $500 in a single day.
It's important to note that participating in sports betting specifically doesn’t mean the individual is destined to fall into problem gambling habits, breadth of gambling (i.e. gambling in several different forms) is the best predictor of problem gambling. However, research has found that if an individual struggles with problem gambling and has a history of betting on sports they gamble more frequently, gamble in a wider variety of games, and take more high-risk gambles than problem gamblers who have not bet on sports.
With all this established, it’s important that we focus on regulating the sports betting scene and educating young people on the dangers of gambling (including being cognizant of what gambling mechanics youth are already exposed to). Currently, sports betting apps are allowed to advertise during sporting events, with celebrities like Drake and Kevin Hart encouraging anyone to sign up and make money fast. Advertisements like this have been restricted or banned in other countries across Europe, an action that the U.S. has yet to make. Furthermore, gambling researchers are calling for some of the tax money collected from sports betting to be directed towards free gambling addiction resources. This has been implemented in a couple of states but needs to be widespread. Finally, there needs to be more gambling resources in general, especially those which are available to younger individuals who are rapidly shifting the age demographic we see most impacted by problem gambling behavior.