Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / How in-game sports betting is fueling addiction concerns among young men

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How in-game sports betting is fueling addiction concerns among young men · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: In tonight's Prime Focus, ABC News's investigative unit examines how
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the evolution of online gambling, and especially in game sports betting,
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  Speaker 1: has triggered a potential public health crisis that, in the
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  Speaker 1: words of one clinician, threatens to destroy a generation of boys.
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  Speaker 1: We also explore the science behind gambling addiction, and, with
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  Speaker 1: support from ABC news's data team, will explain how state
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  Speaker 1: legislatures have come to rely on tax revenue generated by
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  Speaker 1: online gambling companies, thus complicating lawmakers incentive to regulate the industry.
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  Speaker 1: Chief Investigative correspondent Aaron Katirski reports.
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  Speaker 2: Betting on the tournament. If you watch sports or browse
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  Speaker 2: social media odds, are you've seen ads like these This.
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  Speaker 3: Is your shot one more yard, one more yard, no
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  Speaker 3: more yards.
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  Speaker 2: And if you've seen them, you can bet your kids
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  Speaker 2: have too.
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  Speaker 4: And when I saw these commercials saying hey, win some
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  Speaker 4: money while you're watching these games, it felt like, Wow,
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  Speaker 4: that looks amazing. I was already watching it. I might
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  Speaker 4: as well, you know, make a little bit of money
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  Speaker 4: doing it.
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  Speaker 2: Rob Minnick was in high school scooping ice cream for
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  Speaker 2: minimum wage when he started gambling through a bookie.
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  Speaker 4: This concept that I could make one hundred dollars on
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  Speaker 4: a Phillies game versus you know, working two days at
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  Speaker 4: the store. It was like, why would I ever work again?
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  Speaker 2: And when online sports betting became legal, he says, his
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  Speaker 2: addiction escalated.
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  Speaker 4: I put myself into debt six times over the course
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  Speaker 4: of six years, to the point that I had to
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  Speaker 4: work a second job to pay it off.
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  Speaker 2: Rob is in recovery now, but for six years he
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  Speaker 2: was part of a generation of young men enthralled with gambling. Americans.
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  Speaker 2: In twenty nineteen, legally wagered roughly thirteen billion dollars on
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  Speaker 2: sports alone. Last year, that figure surpassed one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: sixty billion dollars.
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  Speaker 5: I placed my first bat when I was eleven.
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  Speaker 4: I bet you at any time, I'd probably had fifteen apps.
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  Speaker 2: ABC News, along with our own and affiliated stations around
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  Speaker 2: the country, launched a nationwide investigation into the growing link
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  Speaker 2: between youth gambling and the rise in gambling addiction in America.
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  Speaker 5: It's a looming public health crisis, in fact, is already here.
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  Speaker 2: Doctor Nasir Nakvi runs the Gambling Disorders Clinic at Columbia University.
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  Speaker 2: He has seen gambling problems in people as young as thirteen.
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  Speaker 5: What we find is actually a very similar pattern.
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  Speaker 2: Of activation, same parts of the brain, same parts of
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  Speaker 2: the brain, drugs and alcohol gambling exactly. A growing body
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  Speaker 2: of research shows that gambling at an early age can
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  Speaker 2: drastically increase the likelihood of developing a gambling addiction.
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  Speaker 5: The parts of their brains that respond to these rewards
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  Speaker 5: develop more quickly, and so they become sensitive to these
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  Speaker 5: rewards and to that dopamine release before the part of
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  Speaker 5: their brain that helps them control these behaviors.
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  Speaker 2: Gambling addiction in adults is rare, only about one percent
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  Speaker 2: report addictions, but among young people up to seven percent
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  Speaker 2: develop gambling problems, including addictions and NACVI says the patients
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  Speaker 2: he sees are increasingly devoted to one very specific type
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  Speaker 2: of gambling. Online sports. You don't have to wait till
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  Speaker 2: the end of the game to see who wins. You
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  Speaker 2: can bet on all sorts of things along.
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  Speaker 5: The way, continuous engagement with the betting platforms during the game,
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  Speaker 5: and so it just creates a higher intensity type of
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  Speaker 5: behavior that is that much more addictive for me.
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  Speaker 2: That continuous engagement is called micro betting or in game betting,
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  Speaker 2: and chances to live bet from the first sounds of
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  Speaker 2: the final whistle.
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  Speaker 3: Micro Betting is about action. It's about a constant, NonStop delivery.
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  Speaker 2: Place your bet, get your fix.
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  Speaker 6: And keep going.
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't stop.
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  Speaker 2: On the opening night of March Madness, we visited a
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  Speaker 2: sports bar in New York City with doctor Harry Levaugh,
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  Speaker 2: a self described recovering gambling addict, clinician and advocate, who
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  Speaker 2: showed us how you can bet on almost any moment
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  Speaker 2: during the course of a sporting event. Pitch a pot,
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  Speaker 2: a free throw with fifty one seconds fifty one seconds left.
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  Speaker 3: This is designed for people who were losing their bets.
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  Speaker 3: Here is one more opportunity of the bet.
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  Speaker 2: Experts believe these in game bets, perhaps more than any
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  Speaker 2: other factor, are responsible for the surge and gambling addiction
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  Speaker 2: among young men.
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  Speaker 3: Gambling has been around Nadonna time. We are seeing an
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  Speaker 3: enormous increase of people struggling with gaming an extram Therefore,
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  Speaker 3: one of two things is so. Either in twenty twenty six,
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  Speaker 3: all of our brains have somehow changed, or the product
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  Speaker 3: has changed.
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  Speaker 2: The product has changed. A trade group representing some of
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  Speaker 2: the biggest sports betting apps as the industry does everything
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  Speaker 2: it can to prevent gambling addiction, including built in wager limits,
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  Speaker 2: time limits, and deposit limits.
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  Speaker 7: Our companies continue to communicate that this is an entertainment
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  Speaker 7: exercise and not a wealth creation exercise.
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  Speaker 2: Levan has helped author state and federal legislation that would
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  Speaker 2: prompt big changes in sports betting, including banning in game
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  Speaker 2: betting supported by artificial intelligence.
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  Speaker 3: We are not trying to outlaw sports gambling or trying
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  Speaker 3: to make it.
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  Speaker 2: Safer, but with millions of dollars in tax revenue coming
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  Speaker 2: in every year, it's an uphill battle. Numbers crunched by
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  Speaker 2: ABC's data teams show online sports books generated at least
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  Speaker 2: three point seven billion dollars in taxes for state and
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  Speaker 2: local governments in twenty twenty five, up nearly a billion
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  Speaker 2: dollars from the prior year. In New York, gaming apps
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  Speaker 2: brought in more than two hundred million dollars more than
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  Speaker 2: table games and slots in one month alone. Lawmakers in
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  Speaker 2: California are introducing legislation that would mandate more stringent age
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  Speaker 2: verification tools and apps, and regulate how companies advertise.
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  Speaker 6: This is an opportunity for us to get ahead of
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  Speaker 6: the problem.
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  Speaker 2: Finally, Jim Steyer runs Common Sense Media, the nation's largest
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  Speaker 2: children's advocacy group. He says most young people bet on
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  Speaker 2: video game platforms or offshore sites and now prediction markets
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  Speaker 2: like Calci and Polymarket, but many children also manage to
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  Speaker 2: gain access to legalized forms of betting like sports books.
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  Speaker 6: We're giving you ten profit boosts every single tournament.
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  Speaker 2: Game bag and with ads like these flooding the airwaves
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  Speaker 2: and social media, and with a tap, you're betting with
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  Speaker 2: the King of sports brooms. Critics say these platforms are
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  Speaker 2: normalizing a known addictive product.
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  Speaker 6: The young people are being targeted without really understanding it.
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  Speaker 6: That is a very serious concern.
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  Speaker 2: Industry leaders say they have a zero tolerance policy for
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  Speaker 2: youth gambling. In addition to age restrictions and their absent
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  Speaker 2: on their ads, they require a social Security number and
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  Speaker 2: bank account to register.
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  Speaker 7: This is a product for adults and adults only. That
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  Speaker 7: means not advertising on college campuses, not casting actors or
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  Speaker 7: character portrayals below the age of twenty one on any
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  Speaker 7: advertising or known to attract younger audiences.
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  Speaker 2: But many kids gain access to sports betting sites with
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  Speaker 2: the help of family or older friends, sometimes even a parent.
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  Speaker 2: How do I stop a older sibling or a parent
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  Speaker 2: from handing an underage person their foe, and it's something
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  Speaker 2: that the industry is grappling with. Pulled out the betemgm
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  Speaker 2: app and put together a live parlaying the normalization of
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  Speaker 2: gambling in America means that kids often first learn about
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  Speaker 2: gambling from their favorite celebrities or sports idols before parents
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  Speaker 2: can educate them about the risks, and it might mean
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  Speaker 2: tough conversations at home.
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  Speaker 6: You have to have an ongoing discussion with your kids
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  Speaker 6: about this all day, about not just media and technology,
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  Speaker 6: but now about the gambling factor.
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  Speaker 2: Rob placed his last bet in twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 4: I gambled compulsively for six years.
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  Speaker 2: Now he's on social media, devoting his time to help others.
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  Speaker 2: He hears from teens every day.
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  Speaker 4: This is my life now. No one cares enough about
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  Speaker 4: the gambling addicts except for ourselves to do anything about it.
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  Speaker 4: If it means that I have to make tiktoks out
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  Speaker 4: of my little cubby in my second bedroom here until
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  Speaker 4: the day that I die, I guess that is what
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  Speaker 4: it is.
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  Speaker 1: Our thanks to Aaron Katirsky for that important report