Americans are gambling on sports in record numbers, which has coincided with a rapid increase in the number of people turning to support for serious gambling addictions.
The American Gaming Association reported a 23.6 percent rise in sports betting in the United States in 2024, with Americans placing $147.9 billion in sports bets.
Several states reported massive increases in sports betting over the past year. Massachusetts saw it sports betting revenue rise 40 percent, while Illinois overtook New Jersey as the No. 2 state for sports betting revenue behind only New York.
Along with the skyrocketing dollars Americans are spending on sports betting has come an increase in the rates of gambling addiction — and the services available to those who are seeking help.
It has been seven years since the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), clearing the way for legalized sports betting throughout the United States. Some form of sports betting is now available in 38 states along with the District of Columbia.
As accessibility has increased, so, too, has the popularity and normalization of sports betting across the country. Gambling-specialized treatment provider Birches Health told Field Level Media on Friday that there have been “notable findings in the past year around the societal impacts, including rates of gambling addiction.”
Among states that release public reports around call volume to their gambling hotlines, Virginia saw a 973 percent increase in the number of helpline callers between 2019-2023, while Florida reported a 138 percent rise in outreach during the state’s first two months after sports betting was made available.
New Jersey reported a 277 percent increase in helpline outreach since the state legalized sports betting in 2018. The state now allows online casino games. According to Birches, the gambling addiction rate in New Jersey-based males between 18-20 years old is around 10 percent — the national average is approximately 3 percent.
Along with the increase in addiction, recent research suggests that legalized gambling has led to increases in irresponsible spending, bankruptcy rates related to gambling debts and higher rates of criminal activity, including intimate partner violence.
“We’ve recently seen an alarming influx of young male bettors across the U.S. seeking assistance for serious gambling problems,” Birches Health founder Elliott Rapaport told Field Level Media. “Even in states where sports betting has not been legalized, they are easily finding ways to bet on sports and play online casino games using unregulated platforms, which of course is very concerning.”
The AGA reported that U.S. sports betting revenue reached $13.71 billion in 2024, a 25.4 percent rise from the previous record set just the year before. And that’s with two of the country’s most populous states, California and Texas, having yet to legalize sports betting.
“These past few years have reshaped the industry, and the revenue pie, and while it’s much bigger, (it) looks very different than it used to,” AGA vice president of research David Forman said in a state-of-the-industry call, per Front Office Sports.
With revenue in the tens of billions and massive states yet to “come online” even as sports betting becomes more normalized by the year, it has sprouted an industry of companies in the support sector. In addition to Gamblers Anonymous, there are now a variety of online and in-person care options for those dealing with gambling addiction.
Among them are Kindbridge Behavioral Health and Birches Health, which has a nationwide team of specially-trained counselors certified for treating gambling and gaming disorder. Virtual services can help remove traditional hurdles of travel inconvenience and costs, and treatment can be covered by insurance.
–Derek Harper, Field Level Media
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