Online sports betting and gambling gaining popularity
2023.02.10 08:47
Online sports betting and gambling gaining popularity
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – The majority of the country’s federal ban on commercial sports betting was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2018. As a result of the decision, sports gambling is now legal in 33 states. A record 50.4 million adults in the United States are now expected to wager on the game on Super Bowl Sunday.
According to gambling researchers and addiction specialists, the booming sports betting industry, lawmakers, and even professional sports leagues themselves are making it easier, faster, and more enticing for people to bet on games—and develop gambling problems.
Advertising, technology that lets you bet with a single click at home, and nearly limitless betting options during games have all come together. According to the states, there has been an increase in calls to their gambling addiction hotlines.
There have been a lot of online sports betting apps from DraftKings, FanDuel, and Caesars in the last five years. Illegal betting venues are frequently being replaced by these apps. At the same time, they also draw a large number of new gamblers who have never been to a casino before and do not know how to bet with a bookmaker.
There will be a flood of advertisements during the Super Bowl, most of which will feature athletes and sponsors of famous people. The purpose of these ads is to attract new customers and increase market share. Kevin Hart and David Ortiz will appear in a DraftKings advertisement, and Rob Gronkowski will attempt a field goal live in a FanDuel advertisement. If Gronkowski plays, FanDuel will award $10 million in “free bets” to any customer who wagers five dollars or more on the Super Bowl.)
Gambling on sporting events was once strongly opposed by sports leagues and teams. They now have a partnership with sportsbooks.
Gamblers can now do a lot more than just bet on a game’s outcome these days. In-game betting is available on each quarter, player, and event.
In the United States, resources for gambling addiction programs have been scarce for a long time, and the current sports betting boom has made matters worse. According to a nationwide survey conducted by the National Association of Administrators for Disordered Gambling Services, there will be 5.7 million gambling disorders in the United States by the year 2020.
According to Timothy Fong, a psychiatrist who is also the co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program, there has historically been little attention paid to gambling disorders in the United States.
According to him, this is in part due to the perception that people with gambling disorders are either stupid or lack willpower. The ability to keep money and win money is equated with success, while losing money is equated with greed.
In contrast to federal funding for alcohol, tobacco, and drug addiction programs, the gambling industry receives little federal oversight, and there are currently no federal funds designated for treatment or research of problem gambling.
Problems are exacerbated by a patchwork of state laws, a lack of robust consumer protections in many states, and a lack of advertising restrictions.
John Holden, an associate professor of management at Oklahoma State University who studies sports gambling regulation, stated, “Many states naively or in some other way went about legalizing sports betting without adequately estimating the costs on problem gambling resources.”
According to Holden, “there is more that state lawmakers can do within the confines of commercial speech restrictions,” such as authorizing additional funding to combat misleading and false advertising.
Some people can get, keep, or get better at gambling disorders by betting on sports.
Sports betting differs from other forms of gambling in a number of ways and can lead to addictive behavior.
According to researchers, a lot of sports bettors believe that their winnings on games are safer and more dependent on their own expertise and skills than luck. They might believe they are in charge because of this.
Experts also say that live betting in games shortens the time between risk and reward and increases wager speed and frequency.
One man with a gambling disorder who was 24 years old stated, “I got caught up in a lot of the live betting.” Seven years ago, he started betting on sports with a bookmaker, but when he started using apps, he increased his wagers.
He bet on which team would score the next touchdown and the outcome of drives during football games. He would try again to win the game on the next play as he lost more during the game.
He stated, “You see the way the game is going, and you think you know.” It’s not like when a bookmaker bet on who will win in the past.
He claimed that sports betting cost him $100,000, which included money from his student loans. He is recuperating at Los Angeles’ Beit T’Shuvah, a facility that offers outpatient and inpatient services to people with gambling disorders.
According to senior vice president Casey Clark of the American Gaming Association, a trade group for the gambling industry, the legalization of sports betting has transformed the illegal sports gambling market into regulated markets, which is advantageous to states.
Clark stated that the sports betting industry collaborates with regulators, professional sports leagues, media companies, and advocates to establish standards, provide gambling education to consumers, and fund treatment-seeking recovery efforts.
“We have had a very rapid escalation and movement toward providing American consumers with access to the legal market that they clearly want. Therefore, we must continue to develop that market,” he stated.
The rapid expansion of legalized sports betting, according to advocates for people with gambling disorders, has increased demand for assistance and treatment services.
According to Felicia Grondin, the executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, inquiries regarding sports gambling have increased by 60% since it became legal in the state in 2018.
Grondin feels helpless in the face of the constant stream of advertisements that promote sports betting.
She stated, “We consider it to be predatory advertising due to the incessant and glamorization of gambling.”
According to Clark of the American Gaming Association, the organization has developed a responsible marketing code to establish advertising guidelines for the entire industry.
Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, stated, “But self-enforcement by the industry cannot make up for robust oversight from regulators.”
He stated, “Self-regulation tends to dumb down itself to the lowest common denominator, not the highest.” There is no doubt that some businesses are taking advantage of the lack of regulation in some states.
A regulatory body oversees gambling in every state where it is legal.
However, according to Holden, very few have “really done more than the minimal amount to increase funding of problem gambling treatment.” He stated that the sports gambling industry is most comparable to financial markets, though financial markets are significantly more regulated than banks.
Sports betting advertisements must, in most states, include information about problem gambling hotlines and the age limit for gambling. Typically, these messages come at the very end and are brief.
Regulators are concerned about how tightly they can restrict gambling advertisements’ messages without violating the First Amendment’s protections for commercial speech.
Holden stated, “A lot of state regulators have big fears about the First Amendment.” Gambling isn’t something anyone wants to pay for or lose in a Supreme Court case.
The age limit for sports betting is 21 in most states. However, critics contend that advertisements shown during games, in stadiums, and with sponsors of prominent athletes normalize sports betting for children and adolescents. In an effort to reduce underage gambling, the United Kingdom banned prominent athletes and celebrities from appearing in gambling-related advertisements. In the United States, that is highly unlikely to occur.
Additionally, sports betting apps’ frequent incentives and promotions, such as sign-up and referral bonuses, promo codes, and bonus bets, trouble researchers. A 2017 study of gambling addicts found that messages offering risk-free bonuses had a significant impact.
DraftKings, Caesars, and BetMGM were each fined $150,000 in January by the Ohio Casino Control Commission for advertising promotions or bonuses as “free” or “risk-free” when, in reality, users were required to lose money or risk their own money in order to obtain the promotion.
The former sports bettor in Los Angeles, who is currently in recovery, stated, “I got more incentive to gamble with these apps that give you free play and match your deposit.” He considered these incentives to be free money when he encouraged friends to sign up in exchange for referral fees. It would be foolish of me to decline this.
