Online Sports Betting Leads To More Emergency Room Visits For Gambling Disorders

Gambling is putting people in the hospital, according to a new study. The increase in online sports betting has worsened mental health problems in younger men, leading to more hospital visits as a result.

Mind games

Online gambling is “associated with a doubling of the rates of severe cases of gambling disorders, with increases occurring only in young men,” said a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. More young men are showing up at emergency rooms with “major depression and suicidality,” as well as “other mental health or substance abuse diagnoses” exacerbated by gambling, said Time.

The uptick in these health issues is “particularly concerning given the rapid growth and promotion of online sports betting, which targets this demographic,” said study author Ryan Forrest, a doctoral student at the University of Toronto, in a news release. And the “consequences of rising gambling involve not just harm to people who are gambling but wider effects on families and communities.”

Underscored

While the study centered on Ontario, Canada, the U.S. has a similar spike in gambling. Since 2018, several states have legalized online sports betting.

“It’s just not a regulated environment out there,” said Cynthia Grant, the vice president of clinical for Birches Health, the largest U.S. provider specializing in treating gambling disorders, to Time. “People’s lives are being ruined, their relationships are being destroyed,” and “their retirement accounts are gone.”

This data “likely represents only a small fraction of the overall harms associated with gambling in the population,” said the study. Unfortunately, “most people experiencing gambling problems will never seek care,” said senior study author Daniel Myran in the release. But increased ER visits may be “revealing much larger increases in gambling-related harm.”