Study shows increase in US customers seeking help for gambling 

The University of California San Diego study has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has identified an increase in the number of people seeking help for sports betting and gambling addiction. Researchers from the University of California San Diego study looked at Google searches per 10 million queries for gambling and addiction and other related terms between January 1 2016 and June 30 2024. 

The report found that since the repeal of PASPA in 2018 and the expansion of legal sports betting from Nevada to 38 states, online searches for help increased by 23 per cent. There were 6.5 to 7.3 million searches, with a peak of 180,000 monthly searches.

By state, Ohio saw the biggest increase in searches (67 per cent), followed by Pennsylvania (50 per cent), Massachusetts (47 per cent), Michigan (37 per cent), New York (37 per cent), Illinois (35 per cent), New Jersey (34 per cent) and Virginia (30 per cent) after the opening of sportsbooks. Online sports betting appeared to result in a greater rise than retail alone.

For example, in Pennsylvania retail sports betting generated a 33 per cent increase in searches in the five months before online sportsbooks launched. After that, searches rose by 61 per cent.

American Gaming Association SVP Joe Maloney told NPR: “To the extent that there are those that are demonstrating problematic behaviour right now, this activity being out in the light, not in the shadows, is enabling services to be delivered.”

The authors of the report recommended increased funding for gambling addiction services from sportsbook tax revenues along with advertising regulations similar to those for tobacco and alcohol. It also called for clinical training programs for healthcare professionals and tougher safeguards for online sportsbooks, including betting limits, mandatory breaks and credit card bans.

It said public awareness campaigns could help communicate the risks of gambling while reducing stigma.

“Sportsbook regulations are lacking because the Supreme Court, not legislators, legalized them,” John Ayers, a professor of data and behavioural sciences at the University of California San Diego, said. “Congress must act now by passing common-sense safeguards. History has shown that unchecked industries – whether tobacco or opioids – inflict 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.”

You can read the report on the JAMA website. Meanwhile, several US states have reported a significant rise in Super Bowl bets this year.