The Real Cost of Legalized Online Sports Betting
It is a Sunday night and Mike is watching the New York Jets face off against the Buffalo Bills at his friend’s house. Mike has been a die-hard Jets fan since birth. His father took him to games at MetLife growing up, his favorite color has always been green, and the only gift he ever wanted for his birthday the first 15 years of his life was a Jets jersey. Watching the NFL game now though, the Jets’ supremacy comes only second to Mike’s bets hitting.
This past year, Mike has called New York City’s gambling hotline twice and has since joined a local gambler’s anonymous group that he attends weekly. “Having a group of people that have gone through the same stresses of online sports betting as me has been helpful," Mike says, “I’m just amazed at how many people – and from different backgrounds – are attending these meetings. There are new faces every week.” The stories Mike shares with me about himself and other addicts in the group are unfortunate and foreboding, but in no way unique.
According to James Maney, director of New York’s State Council on Problem Gambling, calls to gambling hotlines have increased by over 25%, and joining of gambling addiction centers has increased similarly since the introduction of legalized online sports betting in January 2022. Online sports betting has surged from an average of $1.1 billion per month in 2019 to $14 billion as of January 2024, officializing that Americans spend more on sports betting than investing. The shift has been accompanied by a rise in credit card debt, lower credit scores, and a surge in bankruptcy filings. While the states have enjoyed substantial tax revenues from this gambling expansion, the broader economic impact suggests a troubling trend of financial instability and personal harm.
Gambling in New York has not just been made available, it is being marketed so aggressively that, “a person almost can’t help but feel compelled – even obligated – to try it,” as Heather, a twenty-two year old, who until last year had never watched a sports game, notes. “I saw an ad on a bus bench offering $1,500 in free bets to anyone who made a Fanduel account and wagered more than $5 on a football game.” Heather registered an account with Fanduel, wagered $5 on the Cardinals winning their game because she liked the name of the team, won $10 on her bet, and has been placing bets on sports games ever since, chasing the high of that first victory. Heather is now also a member of Gamblers Anonymous.
The most obvious and alarming evidence of this change is found in the way that people watch the sport today. Gone are the days when players running on a field performing remarkable feats of athleticism were the focus on the screen. This has been replaced by constantly flashing banners and graphics displaying betting odds updates, commentators speaking on the subject, and high-budget, celebrity-endorsed commercials that sensationalize gambling. It feels more like a casino than a show.
Randy, another newly minted gambler’s anonymous attendee, has always been a casual gambler. While on vacation with his wife and three kids, Randy would occasionally go to casinos. When playing golf on the weekends with friends, he bets a couple of bucks a hole; and, Randy plays in a $25 fantasy football league every year with his coworkers for fun. Since the legalization of online sports betting in New York, however, Randy’s gambling habit has turned from a harmless pastime into a completely debilitating disease. What started innocently enough as wagering a couple of dollars a week on games he was watching to add to the excitement, has escalated into betting on games he isn’t even watching and sports he doesn’t follow. “It’s completely consuming,” Randy shares, “and the accessibility of it all just makes it too easy. I can place bets in the car while driving my kids to school.”
Gambling is an addiction like any other. When we win, the brain releases dopamine and it feels good. But when we gamble often, our brain gets used to the dopamine, which makes that winning feeling difficult to achieve. With alcoholism or drug abuse, the signs of addiction can be obvious. With gambling, this is not the case. There is no smell, drunkenness, or outwardly visible symptoms to give that person away. This is dangerous when trying to address an issue. Unlike other substance abuses which eventually prompt intervention or introspection after hitting a rock bottom, whether that be crashing in a car or ODing on the toilet, the bigger the loss is for a gambler, the more they will try and compensate for their mistake by betting bigger the next time. “It’s a never-ending cycle,” Mike says of sports betting, “the more often you win, the more you have to bet to get that same winning feeling. And the more often you lose, the more you have to bet to make up for it.”
The house always wins in games of chance, and in this case, the house winning, means mental exhaustion, economic devastation, a debasement of sport, and lives ruined.