The recent rollout of legalized sports betting across 36 states has surged the gambling industry — but experts say it’s coming at the cost of mental health in young men.
In particular, easy access to online betting, most popular with sportsbooks — which often incentivize new customers with credits and first-bet loss forgiveness as a lure — has a grasp on the Gen Z crowd.
A 2023 prevalence report of gambling in New Jersey from Rutgers University found that a third of bettors 18 to 24 exclusively wagered online rather than being inside a casino or in-person facility.
That statistic is five times higher than a prior 2017 report for the school and more than any other age group.
“You can be gambling away your house on your mobile phone sitting at the dinner table, and not a single person will know until the devastation of your whole family is complete,” Lia Nower, director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University School of Social Work, recently told Newsweek.
“The more people gamble, the more activities they gamble on, and the younger they start, the more likely they are to develop problems with not only gambling itself but also mental health problems like depression, anxiety and suicidality,” Nower added.
Younger men aged 18 to 44 were also “most likely to be high-risk problem gamblers,” according to the report, which noted that 19% of the 18 to 24 group were at a high risk for problem gambling.
Players aged 18 to 20 years old “are significantly more likely” to chase their losses and bet beyond their affordability, according to Responsiblegambling.org.
Now, the potential for devastation could be immediately felt.
This New Year’s Day, the College Football Playoff games between the Universities of Alabama and Michigan in the Rose Bowl and the Universities of Texas and Washington in the Sugar Bowl are on pace to set a sports gambling record, the Associated Press reported.
“The volume level is going to be cranked up probably like we’ve never seen it before,” Jay Kornegay, sportsbook director for Westgate’s Las Vegas resort, told the outlet.
But what is it about gambling that has such a hold on people, especially young men?
“The strongest component of the addiction of smoking, drugs or alcohol — not the only one, but the strongest one — is debatably dopamine,” psychologist James Whelan, director of The Institute for Gambling Education and Research at the University of Memphis, told Newsweek.
“And when you gamble, your brain secretes more dopamine than when you do any of those other things.”
Pamela Brenner-Davis, team leader of the New York Council on Problem Gambling, says the under-25 population is “predisposed to addiction, particularly to gambling addiction” because their brains are not fully developed.
Nower also expressed worries that the “rush” to legalization will lead to even more mental health issues among bettors. The signs of dangerous gambling addictions will present themselves much more subtly than those of drinking or smoking disorders, she warned.
“Gambling addiction has no tell.”
