Betting Against Ourselves: Online Sports Gambling is a Public Health Crisis 

by Siena Ellis

Online sports betting is completely legal in more than 30 U.S. states and not only is the industry booming, it’s targeting you.

What used to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Vegas, or a casual fantasy football league, has morphed into a dangerous, daily habit. Online sports gambling has evolved rapidly in recent years with minimal regulation to guide growth. Thanks to flashy marketing, 24/7 access through our phones, and the normalization of betting as “part of the game,” online sports betting has become a public health crisis draining a young generation of its money and mental health.

If you’re a young person trying to build your career, it’s worth asking: Am I gambling with my future?

Gambling addiction doesn’t stem from being irresponsible, immature, or lacking willpower. It’s a diagnosable condition that can rapidly spiral out of control and unlike alcohol or drugs, gambling doesn’t come with obvious physical signs.

Problem gambling can escalate stealthily, especially in the fast-paced and dopamine-filled environments online sportsbooks expertly cultivate. Young men are particularly vulnerable. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. This past April I attended a Detroit Tigers game with some friends from school. A few of them mentioned betting on the game, so I asked who they picked to win, the Tigers or Royals. It was revealed to me that in addition to betting on the winner of the game my friends had also made numerous more bets, all on miniscule game events. Will there be a run in the first inning? How many strikeouts will Skubal have? What genuinely left me with my jaw on the floor was hearing how much money they had riding on this game. Each of my friends had wagered somewhere around $1000 in total with the different bets and parlays they had engineered. As the game started and the conversation ended, I was left to ponder how my unemployed, “broke” college-aged friends acquired all this expendable income and why spending a thousand dollars on DraftKings is okay, but an $8 ballpark hot dog is “egregious” and “highway robbery”.

This experience with my friends is unfortunately not a unique one. A staggering 44% of men aged 18-44 in the U.S. now have an active sports betting account. This same group of men aged 18-44 according to a 2023 report by the National Council on Problem Gambling found that men this age are also the most likely demographic to experience gambling-related harm. Not coincidentally, they’re also the demographic least likely to seek help. Sportsbooks market directly to this age group to encourage overspending and boost their bottom line.

One of the most concerning trends is how easy it is to place bets on games, teams, or entire sports you know nothing about. That’s by design. When I saw one of my friends watching a Korean table tennis match and I asked what sparked his newfound passion. His response? He was trying to recoup some of his losses from betting on Thursday Night Football. The app he was using had given him some free credits to place bets with, but they could only be used on select events, limited to Korean table tennis and a few other off-beat games. This model used by online sports betting platforms bombards you with boosted odds, endless notifications, and in-app promotions that reward impulsivity, not strategy. Unsurprisingly, the resulting losses are adding up quickly. Americans wagered approximately $79.39 billion in 2022, an amount equivalent to 4% of the nation’s gross domestic product. Over the next six years Americans are projected to lose $1 trillion of personal wealth to online sports betting.

However, the worst part of gambling addiction isn’t debt, the lying, or the guilt. Suicide is the most tragic and underreported outcome of gambling harm. People with gambling problems are up to 15 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population, a higher risk than any other addiction, including opioids and alcohol according to the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists. How often do we hear about that in those over-the-top DraftKings ads or infinite FanDuel commercials during halftime?

Maybe you just placed a bet for the first time on the NBA Finals last month. Maybe you’ve lost a couple hundred bucks and brushed it off. The truth is the line between casual betting and addiction isn’t as clear as we’d like to think.

Gambling addiction thrives in silence. It’s time we break that silence before we lose more of our paychecks, our peers, and ourselves.

If you or someone you know is struggling with gambling, you’re not alone. Free help is available 24/7 through the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-GAMBLER.

Siena Ellis is from Los Gatos, California, and is a senior studying public health sciences at the University of Michigan. She is passionate about occupational and environmental health and will be conducting independent research this upcoming semester centered around ergonomics, inspired by her time as an intern at SAIF.

Outside of academics and her job as a waitress at Pizza House in Ann Arbor, she loves discovering new music, watching sports, and going on long runs. She hopes to one day to run the San Francisco marathon and visit every MLB ballpark.