New Report Confirms What We’ve Been Saying About Sports Betting

A recent report from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) confirms what many people have been saying for years: sports betting is predatory, it is growing, and it is destroying lives.

Gambling has expanded rapidly in recent years, and studies show more than half of men ages 18 – 49 now have an active sportsbook account online. Arkansans wagered a record $86.5 million in March alone this year. But experts and policymakers are raising serious concerns about the impact this type of gambling may be having on our society.

The EPPC report examines the explosion of online and app-based sports betting since the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the federal sports betting ban in 2018.

The numbers are staggering. In 2017, Americans bet $4.9 billion on sports. Last year, that number hit $160 billion. The EPPC report shows what that explosion in gambling has cost ordinary families.

Legal sports betting is linked to increases in personal bankruptcies and credit card delinquencies, writing:

This rise in bankruptcy rates translates to roughly 30,000 more personal bankruptcies in the United States every year, and the households that experienced most adverse effects were the ones with existing financial constraints when legalization occurred.

The report also found crime and child maltreatment reports increased in states that legalized sports betting.

And shockingly, 20% of severe gambling addicts attempted suicide — a rate higher than any other addiction.

We have written repeatedly about how mobile sports betting apps use addictive technology to hook people — especially young adults. Psychiatrists warn that online platforms are engineered to keep people engaged, using instant rewards and near-misses to trigger the same brain chemistry as other addictions.

Twenty-year-old males account for approximately 40% of calls to gambling addiction hotlines, and upwards of 20 million men are in debt or have been in debt as a result of sports betting.

Internet gambling is ruining lives, and gambling addiction is a growing crisis. In 2024, the Arkansas Problem Gambling Council announced a 22% increase in calls for help with problem gambling — driven largely by sports betting.

Sports betting isn’t harmless entertainment — it’s predatory, and it is expanding in our state.

As powerful corporations try to make gambling part of everyday life, it is important for Arkansas to protect its citizens and families. Otherwise gambling addiction will simply continue wrecking lives and hurting families in our state.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.