How Sports Betting is Stealing the Game and Leaving a Trail of Addiction Behind

“That’s one of the worst things about gambling is that you lose that aspect, you don’t enjoy the sport anymore, you enjoy the fact of making money or the thrill of trying to make money. You don’t enjoy the play calling and the announcing and the TV angles and the way that you don’t know what’s coming and you’re right, you lose everything about the sport that you loved because now your only focus is money,” Jesse said.

Jesse¹, a 23-year-old recent college graduate, grew up in New York City as a die-hard Yankees fan. Sports were his first love. He couldn’t remember a time in his life when his eyes weren’t glued to the TV, collecting jerseys and memorabilia, and celebrating each win like he was the one out there on the field. He recalled how his mom would stream old games while she cooked to keep him occupied.

“It’s called Yankee Rewinds, and they’d just show old games. She’d say to me, ‘Jesse! The Yankees are playing, go watch!’—and it’d be 10 o’clock in the morning. I’d run over and watch baseball for hours,” Jesse remembered.

It wasn’t until college, and later the onset of COVID, that his relationship with sports began to change. With endless hours to fill, Jesse found a way to make watching sports even more exciting: he started betting on games. While New York had legalized sports betting in April 2021, his college town of San Diego, California, had strict state laws against gambling. But Jesse was quick to find ways around this.

“My freshman year of college, I used this Canadian site, and to get my payout, I had to send a check to the dorm. But it wasn’t a bank check, so I had to bring it home to my parents for them to cash it because I was too nervous to cash it. They were also saying I could do Bitcoin, and “we can take your bank account info”, and I just don’t really trust that,” he recalled.

The more bets Jesse placed—and won—the more money he wagered and the more frequently he gambled. It became a central part of his life, both as an additional income source and a time-consuming hobby.

“It [sports gambling] keeps you wide awake at two o’clock in the morning watching hawaii for no reason. I got into it really to make extra money at the time, but now it’s kind of taken on a mind of its own,” he said.

Sports gambling and its addictive nature have impacted many young adults, as it has become increasingly accessible and popular through online platforms and apps. College students are especially vulnerable to its risks, as many find themselves needing extra money to pay off student loans and expenses. Many lack financial experience and may not fully understand the risks involved, while peer pressure and the social nature of gambling can encourage risky behavior. This allure of quick money, and the impulsive nature of college-aged individuals, can lead to frequent sports gambling without any consideration of the long-term consequences—such as financial instability, addiction, and deteriorating mental health.

Pat Eichner, a strategic communications representative for Kindbridge Behavioral Health and GMA Consulting, tries to promote healthy sports gambling habits and responsible exposure. Responsible exposure means betting with set limits, doing so for fun rather than as a source of income, and understanding the risks involved. He is particularly concerned for college age kids.

“I think the financial literacy pieces are just not there. I’m in my 30’s now and I still have no idea what the hell I’m doing with my money, and when you’re 22 years old, coming out of college, you just, you have no concept of any of those things. and I don’t think this is necessarily the intent from the operators but going back to seeing the glitz and glam side of things, you get to see the 15-leg five-dollar parlay that hit and won the person two hundred thousand dollars, but you don’t see the hundreds of thousands that were bet that day and we’re all losers,” he said.

With limited awareness of the dangers of gambling addictions, students can quickly fall into harmful patterns without recognizing the signs. Cait Huble, the Director of Communications for the National Council on Problem Gambling, is actively working to implement responsible gambling initiatives and education.

“We’re getting more calls from parents who have college-age or even younger kids who are getting really deep into a gambling problem before a parent is even able to catch it and reach out for help. It’s not just people of legal age,” Huble said.

The people involved in sports betting are getting younger because they can do it from home, from the comfort of their living rooms. Jesse mentioned his 16-year-old neighbor who frequently looks to him for advice.

“Parents have to be better at watching what their kids are doing because there’s no reason that this 16-year-old kid is texting me asking what the play of the day is. He’s 16 years old, that’s wrong,” Jesse said.

Huble’s and Jesse’s concerns were echoed by Michelle Hatfield, the Chief Clinical Officer at Kindbridge Behavioral Health.

“People who are betting now are younger than what they were before and the problems that get developed are being developed faster than what they had been before because of the access and the availability and the anonymity. You can gamble at three o’clock in the morning from your bed,” Hatfield said.

Hatfield went on to explain the extensive mental health effects gambling can have. It often leads to various other mental health disorders.

“They can’t control it. They have difficulty reducing, minimizing or stopping the behavior. There’s a level of despair that people tend to get to when they’re on that deep end of problem gambling that can cause a lot of different mental health issues: depression, anxiety, stress, all of those. The consequences can lead to many of those types of mental health symptoms and the reverse is also true that sometimes people who have depression, anxiety, or stress may gamble because it’s an outlet to not address those issues that their feeling,” Hatfield explained.

These negative mental health effects are often downplayed or overlooked due to the widespread popularity of sports gambling. According to CollegeGambling.org, approximately 75 percent of college students gambled during the past year with about 18 percent gambling weekly or more frequently. It has become so common that it feels like everyone knows someone who’s involved in it.

It is nearly impossible to escape ads and promotions for new sports betting apps or deals. They are on TV, the radio, social media, online sites, even billboards. These apps specifically target young people in that way, often offering incentives for signing up. Seamus Gallagher, a senior at San Diego State University, has seen many of his friends become heavily involved in sports betting because of these incentives.

“Gambling is addictive, so these sportsbooks are happy to front you your first time experience and front you $100, $200 just to get you to play, in hopes that you win. Then, if you win a little bit, you’ll want to win again, and win again, and again, and again. They want to get you addicted for free first, so that once you’re addicted and you keep wanting to do it, they can begin to collect money from you. They want to get you to the point where you start and then you don’t ever want to stop,” said Gallagher.

Gallagher continues to be surprised by his friends’ involvement, arguing that the way these apps are set up and the types of bets they encourage leave players with little chance of winning. He specifically mentions parlays—betting on multiple events within the same wager—as a clear indication that the companies do not have the bettors’ best interests at heart.

“You bet less—to make more—but you need more things to happen. ‘I need the Chargers to win, the Bengals to win, and the Cowboys to win.’ Versus, you might make more money if you pick the Chargers to win, the Cowboys to win, and the Bengals to win. The fact that it’s so pushed by these companies that you create parlays should be a red flag,” Gallagher said.

Despite these tricks and incentives, many young people find themselves downloading the apps simply to be part of the trend. The cultures of sports and betting are so intertwined that placing money on your team doesn’t seem dangerous—it feels like it’s encouraged. Jack Zeifang, a recent college graduate, never imagined he’d get involved in gambling, but the constant barrage of advertisements made it hard to avoid.

“Today’s Thursday, so Thursday night football is on tonight. If you sit down and watch that game from start to finish, I would probably guarantee you’ll see, minimum, at least three or four different sports gambling advertisements. It’s kind of the world we live in if you’re a sports fan, like myself. You see them driving on the freeway, you see them on Twitter, you see them on all social media platforms. I even get ads on LinkedIn for sports gambling,” Ziefang said.

Exposure to sports gambling isn’t limited to the media; it’s everywhere, including through interactions with coworkers and peers who participate.

*Source: Statista and the American Gaming Association*

After the federal ban on sports gambling was struck down in 2018, the industry began to boom significantly increasing in popularity every year. This surge in accessibility has led to gambling becoming a near-constant part of daily life for many, including Jesse, who frequently places bets throughout his workday at a nonprofit.

“Everybody at my job gambles, everybody I know realistically gambles. It’s like this crazy thing where kids from the ages of now even younger – like my next door neighbor he’s 16 and he’s texting me everyday like what’s the lock of the day? What are we taking today? So I would say kids from 16 to even 40-50 years old are just always gambling so I wouldn’t say it affects work, I mean sometimes I’ll go to the bathroom at work and you know throw a few bets in,” he mentioned.

Jesse’s sports betting has almost become like another job, given the amount of time he spends on it. He watches game after game—not because he finds it interesting or fun, but because he has money on it. Over the years, he’s found a way to profit even more from sports gambling—or, more accurately, from its illegality in California. He began placing bets for his friends when he was home in New York, and eventually, it turned into a business. He became a bookmaker—more commonly referred to as a bookie.

“I wouldn’t say that I place his bets for him, but I would say that as a way in college of making a little extra side money, my friends from high school and I became ‘sports investment counselors’. I’m not going to use the real word but you can catch my drift” he said.

Jesse couldn’t admit to being a bookie, so he instead calls himself a “sports investment counselor.” Based out of San Francisco, Zeifang confessed that this is how he places his bets—and will continue to do so until sports betting is legalized in California.

“I place my bets through a friend. I pretty much just text him. He lives in New York, where it’s legal to sports gamble. I’ll text him and say, ‘Can you put $25 on the Giants tonight?’ It’s through somebody else because it isn’t legal in California.” he said, referring to Jesse, his longtime friend.

Jesse makes enough money from his bets alone, not including the extra income he earns acting as a bookie, to make the time commitment to sports gambling worthwhile. He has well over 50 people in his book. However, he makes sure that he knows them personally or that someone he trusts knows them to protect himself.

“It would have to be either a friend of mine or a friend of a friend. I pride myself on knowing who I’m helping out, and that way I don’t get scammed, but it’s mostly just my college friends now because in New York it’s all legal, it’s just me helping out people in illegal states” he expressed.

While Jesse doesn’t think gambling should be legalized in California for his own personal gain, many Californians agree with him. In November of 2022, Proposition 27 aimed to legalize sports betting. The proposition was rejected by 82.28 percent of voters. The initiative was criticized for potentially benefiting powerful tribes and gaming companies rather than addressing social issues like homelessness. Many Californians were concerned about the potential harm to people’s financial health if the proposition passed. However, the reality is that people who want to bet are already doing so, legally or not.

“Cats out of the bag and you’re not going to put it back in; when Arizona has it, and all of these states that surround you have it, you’re missing the boat if you don’t also have the legal, regulated market that has consumer protection laws in place,” Eichner said.

The people placing bets feel the same way—it’s already happening. Ryan Merrell, another active sports bettor based in California, has been placing bets since he was in college. He was surprised that people were so quick to shut down the possibility of legalizing sports betting.

“It’s already legal in so many other states, and I do see it as a good way for more taxes and stuff to be taken out of it. It’s already something that’s happening, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t just make it legal to have money going somewhere that it can be used,” said Merrell.

Merrell first started gambling through Jesse as well. During his sophomore year of college, surrounded by friends who were betting, Merrell would occasionally place a bet on a game. Over time, his bets became more consistent until he was betting multiple times every day.

“It was kind of during the tail end of COVID, so we were bored; school was online, and we would just be watching whatever was on, maybe just throw a couple bucks on it. A couple years later, I’d bet probably every day on games, just mostly for entertainment but also just trying to make a couple of bucks, it has never really been enough to where I was making life-changing money, but it is kind of just entertaining seeing what I could make,” Merrell said.

However, when Merrell graduated two years ago, he started placing bets through fantasy sports apps instead. Fantasy sports are classified as games of skill rather than luck which allows them to be legal in California, despite being strikingly similar to traditional sports betting.

This loophole has allowed bettors like Merrell to create imaginary teams and place bets on players throughout the season. It also serves to help form gambling habits, so if California were to legalize it, transitioning from one form of gambling to another would be easy.

“You’re getting the brand awareness and brand affiliation there, and then most of those companies have a DFS platform, particularly FanDuel and DraftKings, they’re just advertising, ‘come play daily fantasy with us’ and then whenever sports betting launches, they have all of your information and are going to send you a million sign-up offers and promotions,” Eichner said.

However, this ease of access and promotion often obscures the real dangers behind sports gambling. Many people underestimate the severity of gambling addictions, assuming that because it doesn’t involve a physical substance, it isn’t as harmful. However, the truth is that gambling addictions can have serious, far-reaching consequences.

Zeifang confessed that he thinks about this negative side of gambling every time he places a bet. “Sometimes, most of the time, the bad outweighs the good. So every time I place a bet, I’m thinking about it,” he said.

These negative aspects are hard to identify, which can make it challenging to recognize that one’s problem might be gambling. According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, around one percent of U.S adults meet the criteria for a severe gambling problem in a given year and another two-three percent of U.S. adults have mild or moderate gambling problems. Huble and Hatfield were quick to debunk myths about gambling addictions and emphasize the challenges involved in recognizing and diagnosing them.

“Gambling addictions, chemically in your brain are the same exact thing as a substance use disorder or an alcohol use disorder. Dopamine wise, chemically, your brain is doing the exact same thing. People really struggle with that because there’s no physical substance that you’re ingesting. So it’s really hard for people to conceptualize and wrap their mind around it. There’s a lot of stigma around gambling addictions,” Huble vocalized.

Gambling activates the brain’s reward system, which releases dopamine, reinforcing the behavior. Oftentimes, people need to gamble more to achieve the same rush. Gambling can become compulsive and individuals lose control even when they recognize the negative consequences. Gambling can also lead to long-term changes in the brain areas responsible for impulse control and decision-making.

Gambling is just as detrimental as other substance use disorders, but the stigma around gambling addictions often prevents people from seeking help. They either function with their addiction or let it take over their lives, which can lead to deep feelings of devastation and isolation. The American Psychiatric Association says over 80 percent of people who have some type of gambling addiction never seek treatment and over 70 percent of those who do seek treatment, relapse and return to gambling. Many people believe that gambling is a choice and the people who become addicted lack self control which is not true.

Hatfield spoke about the shame surrounding gambling addictions:

“When people get to that level of devastation and there’s so much shame around the behavior that people feel like they should have had control over that behavior. It just increases the element of despair.”

According to Kindbridge Behavioral Health, 20 percent of problem gamblers have reported attempting suicide. The percentage of gamblers who seek treatment is very low, which leads to a very low recovery rate.

“One of the scariest factors about a gambling addiction is how many people who struggle with the addiction have also attempted suicide. It’s the mental health disorder with the highest suicidality rate, which is absolutely terrifying. The other thing that’s really scary about a gambling addiction is that only about ten percent of people who struggle seek treatment. So whether that’s because it’s so stigmatized or they’re not aware treatment is available, there’s a low treatment seeking rate, which means there’s a lower recovery rate because those people continue to struggle on their own,” Huble said.

As gambling becomes increasingly legalized and advertised, its impact grows more pronounced. Since the legalization of gambling in 38 states, there has been a significant rise in calls to support hotlines, with Huble pointing to a 200 percent increase. Despite these challenges, recovery is possible and looks different for everyone.

“There’s a lot of different paths to recovery. It’s not a one size fits all option like other types of mental health conditions. You can seek treatment for counselors, from recovery centers, from inpatient, or from outpatient behavioral centers. There are also 12-step programs like Gamblers Anonymous,” Huble explained.

Hatfield and Kindbridge Behavioral Health facilitate peer support groups that listen and hold one another accountable. The problems people face extend far beyond mental health. Financial setbacks and conflicts can also be overwhelming and hard to navigate.

“Financially, it could be a larger loss if it’s family, it could be a broken relationship, additional stress, job work related issues because they can’t focus on work, when there’s a gambling problem and it gets big enough it impacts every area of their life,” Hatfield described.

So how did it get to this point? The rising prevalence of gambling, particularly among young people, is no accident.

“Look at how much money is involved in gambling, right?Anything that you have billions of dollars going into, it’s going to explode. There’s just so much money, I kind of equate it somewhat to the pharmaceutical industry, how the pharmacists are always pushing meds. It kind of feels very similar to betting environments. It’s so in-your-face and now it’s everywhere where you watch a game you get hit by different operators who are advertising their betting app. With this level of advertisement and availability and access, it doesn’t surprise me that it’s frequently used and that problems are developing faster,” Hatfield said.

Merrell, who has already made a couple thousand dollars from his gambling habits, was quick to agree that, “everything is essentially about somebody wanting to make money. It’s kind of a thing for these companies to exploit now that it’s so accessible.” In a sense, addiction is acceptable as long as money is being made.

Jesse agreed that although he knows the negative side to it, it is an easy way to make extra money. He spoke about his biggest revenue,“My biggest win would have to be San Diego State beating FAU in the final four because I was a senior in college and I put so much money on them that it covered my trip to see them and actually doubled my trip cost.”

This quick money he was able to win was worth the anxiety. Many people agree with him, especially when they only see the extra cash they could make and not the consequences.

“There are more people gambling now than putting money into the stock market and I think that’s because of the quicker payouts. You put money into the stock market, you can’t take it out for god knows how long and then especially with the way people don’t trust our government now, even though these sports gambling apps still go in through the government, it’s quicker payout. If you win a parlay for 1,500 bucks, the second it cashes you can have it in your bank account in 20 minutes or less,” Jesse explained.

The bets people place extend far beyond just who wins or loses a game or by how much. They place bets on the speed of a baseball pitch or what color the Gatorade poured on the winning Super Bowl head coach will be. For many people, if they are watching a sports game, they have money on it—it can’t just be for the game anymore.

“As somebody who grew up just loving the actual sport, I don’t think I can watch a sporting event that isn’t my team, my five diehard teams, without gambling on it. There’s no way, there’s just no way. I’m watching the Miami vs. Virginia Tech game right now, and my family’s all there and they all went to Miami but I have no relationship with the school. I am watching it because I have to gamble on it, I’m not watching this for fun,” Jesse said.

Jesse’s story is not unique. It reflects the growing trend of young adults whose love for sports is being overshadowed by the lure of gambling. Whether or not sports betting becomes fully legalized in states like California, the cultural shift is undeniable. It’s a delicate balance between the thrill of the game and the risks of losing yourself to a growing addiction. For many young people, the challenge will be learning how to navigate these waters without sinking.

The experience of watching sports is not only affected for those who partake but also for bystanders and friends. Gallagher has found that, although he does not partake in any kind of sports gambling, it still affects his game day experience.

“I’m an Eagles fan so if the Eagles were playing and I was watching with some friends, when there is somebody in the room who needs a certain thing, maybe they took the Eagle’s opponent’s moneyline or they took them to cover, it is kind of an unwritten rule within your friend group where your bets are secondary to somebody’s team. If you’re watching with friends, and it’s one of your friend’s teams, and you have money on the game that goes against that team, don’t talk about it, because while you may think your money is more important, to the person watching their team, especially if they’re losing, it’s a really crappy thing to do to your friends,” he said.

Of course, sports gambling looks different for different people. While gambling is highly addictive, you still have to let it get to that point. Some people can live a happy, balanced life and still sports bet, but the majority can not.

“I think it looks different for different people, you know, and that’s really the truth. Depending on what your relationship is to gambling and where you are in the problem continuum, you could have a problem but it’s not really affecting your overall livelihood or other decisions that you make in your life, but you can know I’m gambling too much. That’s kinda an issue, right? Some people can just look at that and make a decision to not gamble so much and could potentially stop on their own. Other people who have the problem end, they often try to stop gambling on their own. They try to reduce the number of bets that they make, and it doesn’t work. So for those folks sometimes the pathway is you really shouldn’t gamble ever again ever,” Hatfield clarified.

Money has become the priority. It is no longer about the teams, the competition, or the fandom—but about the payout. With the NFL season well underway and the Super Bowl—one of the most bet-on events of the year—looming, please take Huble’s advice:

“Anybody who feels like either they themselves are struggling or, if they know someone who is struggling, please reach out and get help. You can contact that helpline I mentioned – 1-800-GAMBLER – call, text, or chat. It’s completely confidential and we have resources for everyone across the board. We’ll find something that is local to you that is realistic for your lifestyle. You don’t have to continue to suffer or feel like you’re completely alone in it.”

Source List

Cait Huble, NCPG’s Director of Communications

[email protected]

Jack Zeifang, Sports Bettor

‭+1 (925) 222-0283‬

Jesse, Sports Bettor and Bookie

‭[email protected]

Michelle Hatfield, Chief Clinical Officer at Kindbridge Behavioral Health

[email protected]

Pat Eichner, Kindbridge Behavioral Health and GMA Consulting

[email protected]

Ryan Merrell, Sports Bettor

[email protected]

Seamus Gallagher, SDSU Student

(619) 643-4489

I agreed not to use his full name as some of the activities he is doing are illegal.

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