by James A. Baumann
Even before the first Taylor Swift sighting, it was estimated that approximately 68 million people would bet more than $23 billion on the 2024 Super Bowl. When the NCAA basketball tournaments tip off later this month, a similar number of people are expected to have a rooting interest in the games based on the wager they place in the office pool, a gambling app, or a sportsbook. Odds are that college students will make up a good portion of those numbers, and the stakes are only getting higher.
While there have been high-profile cases of college athletes being caught gambling on sports, the rapid growth of authorized betting across the United States has meant that problem gambling is becoming a potential issue for all students. "The United States is currently experiencing the largest and most rapid expansion of legalized gambling in its history," said Ted Hartwell, the executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling. "Since the striking down of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) by the Supreme Court in 2018, 38 states and the District of Colombia have legalized sports betting. These new pieces of legislation have often been enacted without sufficient funding allocated to address problem gambling awareness, education, research, or treatment."
According to collegegambling.org, a website operated by the International Center for Responsible Gaming, approximately 75% of college students gambled legally or illegally over the past year, and approximately 18% did so every week. While much of this was handled responsibly, recent research estimates that as many as 6% of college students in the United States have a gambling problem: this at a time when only 22% of colleges and universities have formal policies on gambling. Meanwhile, campus organizations continue to host casino nights, raffles, lotteries, and similar programs as fundraisers. The rising numbers and accessibility of gambling, along with emerging research revealing a correlation between betting and other risky behaviors such as binge drinking or drug use, has led campuses and organizations to dedicate more resources to educating students on gambling-related dangers.
The University of Colorado Denver is one campus that is raising awareness. Mike Schilling, the associate director of residence life, shared in the ACUHO-I online community that representatives from the Problem Gambling Coalition of Colorado and EPIC Global Solutions were invited to visit the campus and present to multiple campus programs. At Colorado, student affairs staff attended a session on problem gambling while more specific sessions were presented to those with counseling licensures, student leaders including resident assistants, and the Student Government Association. Additional information was shared with the general student body through the campus wellness center.
National education efforts include designating March as Problem Gambling Awareness Month as well as holding a national Gambling Disorder Screening Day on Tuesday, March 12. The screening day program, created by the Harvard Medical School’s division on addiction at Cambridge Health Alliance, features educational materials with information about gambling and treatment as well as an assessment tool. The Brief Biosocial Gambling Screen (BBGS) Questionnaire asks three questions based on the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for a gambling disorder. Students are asked if, during the past year, they had become restless, irritable, or anxious when trying to stop gambling; if they had tried to keep family or friends from knowing how much they gambled; or if gambling had caused financial trouble that led to needing help meeting living expenses.
Hartwell pointed to a 2021 study commissioned by the National Council on Problem Gambling that showed the percentage of people engaging in risky gambling behavior increased from 7% to 11% between 2018 and 2021 and that young adults continue to be most at risk for problematic play. In the survey, 25% of those under age 25 reported frequently experiencing at least one problematic play behavior.
James A. Baumann is editor-in-chief of Talking Stick.