Sports betting and gambling addiction are on the rise

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - With this year’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas, the most popular gambling location in the United States, there’s plenty of talk about the rising popularity of sports betting and some of the dangers it poses.

There is certainly a buzz surrounding sports betting on Super Bowl 58. According to an American Gaming Association survey, over a quarter of adults in the United States plan to bet on the big game.

That’s 67.8 million people putting money on the game. Since sports betting became more widely legalized in 2018, many individuals have become susceptible to gambling addiction.

Since 2018, sports betting has turned into a powerful industry. With the big game in Vegas, bettors are reportedly planning to bet over $23 billion, which is $16 billion more than last year’s Super Bowl.

Matt Walz with Keystone Treatment Center said that the accessibility makes sports betting dangerous for those who can get addicted.

“It’s not chump change that people are betting for sports now,” Walz said. “With in-person betting, you have to be there in person, typically cash on hand, that type of thing. With sports betting, you can do it instantaneously from anywhere. From your phone, there’s lots of apps and platforms.”

The Director of Outpatient Services at Keystone, Jason Stricklin, said that for some, gambling isn’t a problem and they can do so responsibly. It might not be the case for all, especially if gambling addiction runs in their family or there are high financial stakes.

“The most dangerous thing for someone who is prone to addiction with gambling is that first win. That is a chemical reaction that happens in their brain that they are looking for time and time again,” Stricklin said.

Substance use while betting is another danger to gambling addiction.

“When people are drinking more, they’re typically betting more and it’s easier to bet over your head and bet more than you can afford to lose when you’ve had a little too much to drink,” Walz said.

“With the laws passing in 2018 and [sports betting] has become so accessible, it’s easy to hide that. You don’t have to go to a casino. You don’t have to Las Vegas to participate,” Stricklin said.

Sports betting is here to stay, but there’s reason to be cautious as the responsibility is placed in bettors’ hands.

“We look at something like that ‘chasing the dragon’, ‘chasing the high.’ That is a very real thing in gambling, too. So much so that with gambling addiction, it actually has the highest suicide rate among addictions out there,” Stricklin explained.

“I firmly believe that sports betting is America’s next opioid epidemic: highly accessible, highly addictive,” Walz said. “These platforms and the algorithms they use, they know what they’re doing. This is high stakes.”

You can take a screening questionnaire called The South Oaks Gambling Screen to gauge how gambling affects you and if it might be a problem.

“With gambling, it’s often a silent addiction,” Walz continued. “You can’t see it as visually as you can with other types of addiction. You can’t taste it or smell it. You can go on a gambling binge and come out of the casino or come out of their sports betting apps and they can function quite normally, even though they may have extreme anxiety because they just bet the last of their rent or mortgage. They bet over their head more than they can handle, but they can hide it pretty well.”

Many experts say that if you do plan to bet, do so safely by setting money or time limits, taking breaks and learning to walk away from losses.

There are resources available if you think you may have a problem.