There may come a day when we look back on the mass legalization of gambling—especially the decision to put a fully functional casino in everyone’s pocket—and see it the same as asbestos in our walls or lead in our paint. Until then, we’ll keep getting studies like the one NBC News recently reported on, showing that gambling disorder diagnoses are spiking in states that legalized sports betting.
According to NBC News, new research from Epic Research found that diagnoses of gambling disorder increased by more than 60 percent in states with legal sports betting between 2018 and early 2026, while diagnoses actually declined in states that never legalized it. The biggest jump came among men ages 18 to 29, the same demographic most likely to have grown up with apps that let you throw away your money sitting right next to TikTok and DoorDash.
This is all because of a 2018 Supreme Court case in which the court ruled 6-3 to strike down a 1992 federal law that effectively banned sports betting across the US, with all conservative judges ruling in favor and all liberal justices ruling against. The researchers say that legalization is the primary cause, but it’s only one explanation. As we’ve seen in other fields of medicine, such as autism research, a big jump in the numbers can be explained by improved screening, expanded telehealth access, and greater awareness.
Experts Believe There Are Many More With Undiagnosed Gambling Disorder
Of course, the practical effect is one that countless experts predicted as soon as the ruling dropped: if you make gambling easier to access, millions of people will become addicted to it.
For as much awareness as there is out there, there are still likely many, many more who are undiagnosed, as experts estimate only a small percentage of people with gambling disorder ever receive a formal diagnosis. And by the time they’re diagnosed, the damage is likely already done, with the addiction having already impacted their finances, their relationships, their mental health, and their employment, leading some to crime, or even suicide.
Online betting doesn’t seem like it’s going to slow down anytime soon; if anything, it’s expanding with prediction markets, where you can bet on anything and everything, and the gambling addicts absolutely do. The experiment with fully legalized gambling is still ongoing, and the early results are looking disastrous and impossible to ignore.
The post Gambling Disorder Diagnoses Are Skyrocketing Among Americans Following Legalization, Study Finds appeared first on VICE.
