Legalized online sports betting drives fuel addiction's rise, study finds Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Chief Editor Since the Supreme Court's 2018 invalidation of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), dozens of states have legalized sports betting. Then came a rise in gambling hotline calls and suicide rates, the telltale signs of addiction. These effects are particularly pronounced among young, unmarried, less educated men, according to research by Brad Greenwood, professor of information systems and operations management at the Costello College of Business.

In a forthcoming Information Systems Research paper, Greenwood and his colleagues Gorkem Turgut Ozer at the University of New Hampshire and Anand Gopal at Nanyang Technical University focus on the deleterious effects of online gambling manifested in addiction. They attempt to answer the question: Who pays the price when digitized sports gambling goes mainstream? The study investigates the effects of legalization of both online and offline sports betting by examining changes in the number of calls to the National Problem Gambling Hotline and the number of suicides reported per state.

The results show both increased gambling hotline calls and higher suicide rates in states that legalized online sportsbooks by the time of the study's completion. They reveal a 22.8% rise in calls to the National Problem Gambling Hotline, with no significant change when physical sportsbooks were legalized. "That effect appears to be uniquely digital," says Greenwood.

"We see no concomitant rise when physical sportsbooks are legalized. And while interpreting a null result is challenging, we think that easier access to mobile and web-based sports betting facilitates compulsive behavior and gambling addiction." "The paper looks to the rollout in individual states and their decision statutorily to legalize sports betting online, in person, both or neither. For example, Virginia has legalized online betting, but not in-person betting.

We then compared changes at the societal level in the states that had legalized the various different combinations and exploited the difference in the timing of when the two kinds of betting were rolled out. I think that's where the paper differentiates itself from other gambling literature," Greenwood says. Gamified elements of digital betting represent an important factor that leads to increased addictiveness.

Gaming apps make it easier for participants to place bets not only on a game's outcome but also on uncorrelated outcomes, such as a coin toss or a player's foul count. Known as proposition bets, they enhance the appeal of gaming and increase its addictive nature, the paper argues. According to Greenwood, "the way the apps are designed, with intermittent reinforcement between highs and lows and added social validation, it is easy to see how they become addictive." The fact that the suicide effect is concentrated among young, unmarried men may indicate a problem among college students, although further evidence is needed.

The states' economic benefits from legalization of the sports betting industry since PASPA was struck down have been significant.