You’re in a conversation, and someone says, “Sports gambling is harmless. It shouldn’t be regulated.” What would you say?
Betting on sports is nothing new, but since a 2018 Supreme Court case struck down a federal ban and paved the way for 38 states, along with Washington, D.C. to allow sports gambling, it has exploded in popularity. So far, this national experiment has been a disaster for individuals and families.
Here’s how:
The Arkansas Lottery still relies heavily on scratch-off tickets.
Earlier this month the lottery rolled out four new scratch-off games advertising “over $16 million in prizes.” And over the past few weeks, the Arkansas Lottery’s social page has highlighted expensive tickets that sell for $10 or $20 each.
Statistically, people who buy a $20 lottery ticket stand to lose their money 66% of the time.
Unfortunately, the Arkansas Lottery has a long history of relying on expensive scratch-off tickets with long odds and large prizes to encourage people to gamble. Lottery ticket sales in Arkansas largely come from scratch-off tickets.
But scratch-off tickets are often associated with problem gambling and gambling addiction. The excitement of instantly winning makes scratch-offs particularly appealing — and potentially addictive — for many people.
In 2023, ABC News highlighted the harm that scratch-off tickets can cause, writing:
A 2022 nationwide investigation of state lotteries by the Howard Center For Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland found stores that sell tickets are disproportionately clustered in lower-income communities in nearly every state where the game is played. . . .
Les Bernal, the national director for the nonprofit group Stop Predatory Gambling, told ABC News that while states use the revenue from lottery sales to fund services like education, they are doing so off the backs of low-income residents.
We have written before about how expensive scratch-off tickets prey on the truly desperate. They entice Arkansans to spend a lot of money on a single lottery ticket in hopes of a big payout, but more often than not people lose.
Family Council has supported legislation in the past that would restructure the Arkansas Lottery’s budget to increase spending on education.
The state-run lottery could provide millions of dollars more in scholarship funding if it would simply reduce its prize budget, increase its scholarship budget, and quit relying so heavily on scratch-off tickets.
Unfortunately, there simply doesn’t seem to be much impetus to do that.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
A new report from the group Campaign for Accountability alleges lobbyists for the sports betting industry have successfully opposed legislation and safeguards intended to protect people from gambling addiction.
The report comes as sports betting continues to grow across America.
In a press release, Campaign for Accountability Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said,
“It’s an open secret that addicted players are the gambling industry’s best customers, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that sports betting companies aren’t eager to implement controls that minimize addictiveness. Legislators need to understand that the gambling industry—like the tobacco industry before it—cannot self-regulate when profits and the addictiveness of their product is so tightly linked.
“CfA’s research adds to a growing body of evidence showing the gambling industry isn’t simply a passive bystander in how addicted players interact with their products. Rather, the industry is actively fighting against many of the measures that could start to reduce harms.”
Internet sports betting has made it possible for Arkansans to gamble — and lose — on sporting events from anywhere in the state.
Nationwide, sports betting is now legal in 39 states — including Arkansas, where people, on average, wager more than a million dollars a day, most months.
That kind of gambling ruins lives, tears families apart, and hurts communities.
Studies show people who gamble on sports may be twice as likely to suffer from gambling problems.
Young men in particular are hurt by sports betting. 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.
And research now shows that the legalization of sports betting may be linked to serious financial problems in America — such as credit card debt, overdrafts, late payments on loans, lower credit scores, and higher bankruptcy rates.
Last year the Arkansas Problem Gambling Council announced it had seen a 22% increase in calls for help — a spike driven largely by sports betting.
Gambling in Arkansas and nationwide is out of control, and it is ruining lives. Tax revenue from casinos and sports betting has not improved Arkansas’ roads or boosted the economy.
As powerful corporations try to make gambling part of everyday life, it’s important for Arkansas to protect 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.
