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

Gambling,

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.

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Grant Funding Pushes for Better Research on Dangers of Sports Gambling

Gambling, ,

CNBC reports billionaires John and Laura Arnold are offering more than $2 million in research grants to universities to study the risks of online sports betting.

The grants will help researchers “look at the effect of gambling on financial well-being, household formation, mental health and consumer behavior.”

Thanks to internet gambling, placing a bet is now as easy as sending a text.

Researchers say 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.

A study published last month found gambling disorder diagnoses have risen more than 60% in states that legalized sports betting. Researchers said the largest increase in gambling disorders was found among young adults ages 18 – 29.

People who gamble on sports are at an increased risk of suffering from gambling problems. When sports betting happens online or on a smartphone, the rate is even higher.

Mobile sports betting apps use addictive technology to hook people — especially young adults. A recent report from mental health professionals at Baptist Health South Florida found that internet gambling platforms are engineered to keep people engaged, using instant rewards and near-misses to trigger the same brain chemistry as other addictions.

Bankruptcy attorneys across the country say online sports betting is driving a surge in personal bankruptcies — especially among young men in their 20s and 30s — and researchers at UCLA estimate that online sportsbooks are linked to an increase of roughly 30,000 more bankruptcies per year nationwide.

Experts are also sounding the alarm over “prediction markets” that they say are not regulated under state gambling laws, but are still just as addictive as other forms of online gambling.

Maybe all of this is part of the reason why polling now shows most Americans do not believe sports betting has been good for society or good for sports.

Arkansas families need to understand that sports betting isn’t harmless entertainment — it’s predatory, and it’s growing.

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 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.

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Polymarket Used Deceptive Social Media Ads, Fake Wins to Promote Platform: WSJ

Gambling,

A recent investigation by The Wall Street Journal alleges that the prediction market platform Polymarket hired social media influencers to record deceptive videos appealing to young adults.

Prediction markets exploit loopholes in federal law to bring casino-style gambling to anyone with a smartphone. Whereas traditional gambling operates under state oversight and state law, prediction market platforms claim protection under federal commodities laws. The companies running these platforms let people “invest” in the outcome of a ballgame, tomorrow’s weather, foreign policy, and so on.

But calling it an “investment” does not change reality. When prediction market platforms let users trade hundreds of millions of dollars on the Super Bowl game outcomes — plus millions more on trivial bets like which song would play first at halftime — that is not investing. That is gambling. Unlike other forms of gambling, however, prediction markets are not accountable to state gambling laws.

Polymarket is one of the leading prediction market platforms online today, but the company allegedly has relied on deception to attract customers.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Polymarket hired dozens of “mostly college-age” social media creators who filmed themselves “making fake trades and sometimes scoring fake wins.” The journal reportedly analyzed more than 1,100 videos, reviewed instructional materials, and interviewed creators who have worked with Polymarket.

The investigation found that the social media videos promoting Polymarket “appear genuine at first glance.” In reality, creators videoed themselves using copies of Polymarket’s website to make simulated “trades.” The Wall Street Journal says 118 of the videos it analyzed showed fake wins in which the creators reacted to “outdated footage or fake headlines suggesting they’d won.”

Polymarket allegedly recruited a social-media army to copy and re-post the deceptive videos in order to get them to go viral.

All of this is deeply troubling, because social media platforms, viral videos, and online gambling in general appeal to teens and young adults.

A recent report from mental health professionals at Baptist Health South Florida noted that gambling has moved from casinos and racetracks to smartphones — and experts say these online platforms are engineered to keep people engaged, using instant rewards and near-misses to trigger the same brain chemistry as other addictions.

And this kind of predatory gambling destroys families. Internet gambling is ruining lives. Prediction markets are no exception.

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 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.

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