Category: Gambling

Gambling’s Toll on College Students

A recent study raises serious concerns about how gambling may affect mental health among college students.

Gambling has exploded in recent years, and studies show more than half of men ages 18-49 now have an active sportsbook account online. But experts are also questioning what this type of gambling may do to our society.

A study published last month in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction examined gambling habits and mental health among more than 1,800 college students in Mississippi from the 2021 school year.

Researchers found nearly one in four college students surveyed said they gambled, and 7% suffered from gambling problems.

Researchers also found that “increased gambling risk was generally associated with worse mental health symptoms” among students. Students with gambling problems were also more prone to struggle with anxiety and worry or problems with their mood.

Gambling problems were also tied to greater problems with substance use.

Gambling isn’t harmless entertainment. It’s predatory, and it’s growing.

A report from Common Sense Media earlier this year found 36% of boys ages 11 to 17 reported gambling in the past year. Among boys exposed to gambling content, 59% said the content appeared in their feeds without them seeking it out.

Researchers have repeatedly voiced concerns about sports advertisements that aggressively target young adults.

Internet gambling makes placing a bet as easy as sending a text — especially when it comes to sports betting.

We have identified a few examples of simple, sensible steps that Arkansas could take to protect families from predatory sports betting.

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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Sports Gambling Is Still a Bad Bet: Guest Column

Where betting is legalized, lives are being destroyed.

A recently released report shows a clear correlation between legalized gambling and gambling addiction. While this should surprise absolutely no one, there is further evidence that the explosion of legalized sports gambling was a bad idea. 

In 2018, a Supreme Court decision cleared the way for states to legalize sports betting. Since then, according to the study shared by Epic Research, gambling disorders have risen by 61% in states that allow it but is down 29% in states that have not.  

That’s a big spread, pun intended. The time frame is also significant. Only Nevada allowed sports gambling prior to 2018. Today, it is legal in 39 states and DC, though app-based gambling has made it ubiquitous. The results of this experience speak for themselves: 

Of the overall population, adults aged 30 to 49 had the highest overall quarterly rate of diagnosed gambling disorder throughout the study period. . .. The largest proportional increase was among adults aged 18 to 29, whose rate more than doubled. Rates rose in both sexes and in every age group, but the male-to-female gap was substantially larger in adults under 50. 

The math speaks for itself. For example, sports betting companies make enough to pay out a fortune in constant commercials while still raking in incredible profits. As of last year, gambling businesses have taken in around $300 billion, which is as much as China spends on its military each year.  

The cost to consumers, however, is not only in the bet. According to a 2025 article by Charles Fain Lehman in The Atlantic, for every dollar spent on betting, household investing fell by an average of two dollars. The years since 2018 have been marked by large increases in over-drafted bank accounts and maxed-out credit cards. Legalized sports gambling has increased “the risk that a household goes bankrupt by 25 to 30 percent” and has caused debt delinquency to surge.   

The financial strain, in turn, worsens social pathologies. According to research cited by Lehman, an upset loss for an NFL home team correlates to a 10% spike in male domestic abuse. Overall, states with legalized sports gambling have seen an estimated 9% increase in “intimate-partner violence.” 

As it turns out, it is possible to legislate morality, or, in this case, to legislate an increase in immorality. The legalization of sports gambling, and the general betting industrial complex, is a scourge on society, as if a highly contagious illness had a multi-billion-dollar PR campaign behind it. This is a cause for both the Left and the Right to get behind. Progressives would be hard pressed to find a better example of the rich getting richer on the backs of the poor. Conservatives have a horribly perfect example of the effects of moral decay and the corruption of domestic life. 

Moral decline isn’t inevitable. Too many are convinced that things always go from bad to worse, so why try to turn the tide? Fighting the new normal, especially one with so much money and political power behind it, is an uphill battle. But Christians are commanded to love our neighbors. Sometimes that means giving to a local charity. Sometimes that means pressing leaders to ban what is destroying lives. 

Copyright 2026 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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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.

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