The group Axis recently released a video highlighting how sports betting is harmful — especially for teenage boys.
Axis provides videos and resources designed to help parents have gospel-centered conversations with their children about faith and culture. Their recent video helps parents understand how sportsbook apps turn sports fans into gamblers and why young men are especially vulnerable.
Nationwide, sports betting is legal in 39 states — including Arkansas, where people are on track to wager nearly a billion dollars this year on sports betting alone. But a growing body of evidence shows this type of gambling is causing serious harm — especially to teens and young adults.
Studies show people who gamble on sports may be twice as likely to suffer from gambling problems. When sports gambling happens online, the rate is even higher.
Experts estimate more than half of men ages 18 – 49 now have an active sportsbook account online. While not all of these prople may suffer from gambling problems, and bankruptcy attorneys across the country say online sports betting is driving a surge in personal bankruptcies among young adults in their 20s and 30s.
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.
In 2024, the Arkansas Problem Gambling Council announced it had seen a 22% increase in calls for help with problem gambling — driven largely by sports betting.
And a 2025 survey found one in four sports bettors worry that they cannot control their gambling. Some studies have also linked legal sports betting to increases in divorce, binge drinking, domestic violence, and violent crime.
It’s time to admit that the national experiment with sports betting has failed. The cost of sports betting isn’t just measured in dollars and cents. It’s also measured in human lives.
On the whole, most Americans do not believe sports betting has been good for society or good for sports. The NFL and sportsbooks have actually faced consumer protection lawsuits over the harm that gambling causes.
As powerful corporations try to make gambling part of everyday life, it’s important for Arkansas to protect its citizens and families from predatory gambling. Otherwise gambling addiction will simply continue wreaking havoc and hurting families in our state.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
