According to a survey released Monday, the number of states with legalized sports betting has expanded in recent years, and the need for more public health awareness has expanded, so internet searches seeking help with gambling addiction have been growing. “It’s increased significantly.”
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Bryn Mar College said, “suggesting that sportsbooks pose substantial health concerns,” the findings stated. Journal Jama Internal Medicine.
“There is a need for a change in the paradigm of how regulatory frameworks and how health organizations work together to address the complexities of gambling harm,” the researchers wrote.
The investigation dissolved monopoly on Nevada practices following a 2018 Supreme Court decision, clearing the path to state-sponsored sports gambling, resulting in a billion-dollar industry. Because it exploded into the
Americans bet an estimated $1.4 billion at this year’s Super Bowl, up from $1.25 billion in 2024. American Games Association.
Currently, 38 states and Washington, DC allow sports betting in some way, whether physical facilities or online. Some states generate hundreds of millions of dollars Tax revenue annually.
Research shows online searches for gambling addiction help have increased year by year over 2021 as the community pandemic halted sporting events in 2020.
Researchers analysed monthly Google searches surrounding gambling addiction, including the “Gambling Addiction Hotline” and “I’m a gambling addict,” and found that since the Supreme Court ruling, 23% more searches were cumulatively more than expected. I discovered something.
In the next 73 months, “we had around 650,300,000 searches nationwide for gambling addiction help in June 2023, with 180,000 searches per month during their peak hours,” the survey said. It’s there.
The researchers also conducted independent assessments in eight states: Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
They concluded that higher search volumes in these states are “very unlikely to be attributed to coincidence.”
“The cumulative increase in searches in each state is higher than in the aggregate model, suggesting that a normal peak month occurred in 2024, suggesting that searches continue to increase even after the launch of sportsbooks,” the survey said. According to.
