Gambling Disorder Diagnoses Jump 60 Percent in States That Legalized Sports Betting, Study Finds

Diagnoses of gambling disorder have surged more than 60 percent since 2018 in states that legalized sports betting, with young men driving the sharpest rise, according to a new study. The analysis, conducted by Epic Research, examined electronic health records from more than 197 million American adults between January 2018 and March 2026. In states with legalized sports betting, the rate of gambling disorder climbed from 3.0 to 4.8 per 100,000. The 11 states that did not legalize sports betting saw diagnoses fall by roughly 30% over the same period.Gambling disorder is a recognized mental health condition in which patients cannot stop gambling despite mounting distress and harm. It is now classified alongside substance abuse disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, reflecting similarities in how the two conditions present and are treated.Sports betting has spread rapidly since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for states to legalize online sportsbooks. While adults ages 30 to 49 had the highest overall rate of gambling disorder, the steepest increase appeared among men ages 18 to 29 — the same group most likely to use online betting platforms.Epic’s researchers cautioned that the trends “cannot be attributed to any single legal event.” They noted that pandemic-era shifts in health care, the growth of telehealth, and greater clinician awareness may explain some differences between states.“Because legalization is staggered and gambling disorder is widely under-recognized in clinical care, these trends cannot be attributed to any single legal event and likely understate true population prevalence,” the researchers wrote. “Even so, the directional contrast aligns with national survey and search-trend evidence of rising gambling-related help-seeking concentrated in states that have legalized sports betting.”The American Gaming Association pushed back. “While problem gambling is a serious condition for those impacted, this study does not indicate an increasing rate of addiction,” it said in a statement. “Increased screening and greater awareness of available resources can often lead to more diagnoses, while decades of research have found no increase in problem gambling rates as legal gaming has expanded.”Researchers emphasized that medical records capture only a fraction of cases, since few providers screen for gambling problems and most sufferers never seek formal treatment. With new, largely unregulated prediction markets now spreading nationwide, some experts warn the full toll is still emerging.

Gambling Disorder Diagnoses Jump 60 Percent in States That Legalized Sports Betting, Study Finds

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