Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Experts say sports micro-betting is sparking gambling addictions among young men

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Experts say sports micro-betting is sparking gambling addictions among young men · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This time of March madness, and we're taking a look
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  Speaker 1: at the world of online sports gambling meant for adults,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: yet its hold is stronger than ever now on some
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: teens thanks to new features, experts say amp up the dopamine,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: giving them a series of quick fixes, yet it can
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  Speaker 1: lead them into addiction. Now, ABC News has partnered with
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  Speaker 1: our own and affiliated stations in a nationwide investigation called
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: in on the Action. Here's ABC chief investigative correspondent Aaron Katski.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: It's March and for sports fans, the madness is Backland
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  Speaker 2: Saint John's advancing with a buzzer beater, Iowa busting brackets
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  Speaker 2: with a shocker beating defending champion Florida Baris here with
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  Speaker 2: all the action on the court.
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  Speaker 3: Here are my best bet for day one.
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  Speaker 2: It's the online betting action off the court that's attracting
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  Speaker 2: a lot of attention and billions of dollars. With superstars
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  Speaker 2: like Livy Dunn.
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  Speaker 4: My fanatic sports book is making this time tonament ten
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  Speaker 4: times more.
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  Speaker 2: Of rewarding and Tom Brady promoting online gambling.
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  Speaker 3: Wait, what did I do?
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  Speaker 2: But what happens when the fun turns into an addiction?
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  Speaker 5: When I saw these commercials saying, hey, win some money
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  Speaker 5: while you're watching these games. It felt like, Wow, that
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  Speaker 5: looks amazing. I was already watching it. I might as well,
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  Speaker 5: you know, make a little bit of money 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 5: This concept that I could make one hundred dollars on
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  Speaker 5: a Phillies game versus you know, working two days.
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  Speaker 3: At the store.
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  Speaker 5: 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 5: I put myself into debt six times over the course
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  Speaker 5: of six years, to the point that I had to
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  Speaker 5: work a second job to.
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  Speaker 2: Pay it off. Rob is in recovery now, but for
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  Speaker 2: six years he was part of a generation of young
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  Speaker 2: men enthralled with gambling. Americans In twenty nineteen, legally wagered
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  Speaker 2: roughly thirteen billion dollars on sports alone. Last year, that
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  Speaker 2: figure surpassed one hundred and sixty billion dollars. I plays
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  Speaker 2: my first batten as eleven.
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  Speaker 5: I bet you 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 3: It's a looming public health crisis. In fact, it's 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 3: What we find is actually a very similar pattern of activation,
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  Speaker 3: same parts of the brain, same parts of the brain,
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  Speaker 3: drugs and alcohol gambling exactly.
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  Speaker 2: A growing body of research shows that gambling at an
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  Speaker 2: early age can drastically increase the likelihood of developing a
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  Speaker 2: gambling addiction.
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  Speaker 3: The parts of their brains that respond to these rewards
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  Speaker 3: develop more quickly, and so they become sensitive to these
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  Speaker 3: rewards and to that dopamine release before the part of
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  Speaker 3: their brain that helps them to 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. Among young people, up to seven percent develop
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  Speaker 2: gambling problems, including addictions and Knackvie says, the patients he
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  Speaker 2: sees are increasingly devoted to one very specific type of
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  Speaker 2: gambling online sports. You don't have to wait till the
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  Speaker 2: end of the game to see who wins. You can
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  Speaker 2: bet on all sorts of things along the way.
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  Speaker 3: There's a continuous engagement with the betting platforms during the game,
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  Speaker 3: and so it just creates a higher intensity type of
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  Speaker 3: behavior that is that much more addictive.
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  Speaker 2: That continuous engagement is called micro betting or in game
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  Speaker 2: betting and chances to live bet from the first sound
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  Speaker 2: of the final whistle. Micro Betting is about action. It's
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  Speaker 2: about a constant, NonStop delivery. Place your bet, get your fix,
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  Speaker 2: 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 Levaughn,
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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. A 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 2: Here's one more opportunity to bet. Experts believe these in
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  Speaker 2: game bets, perhaps more than any other factor, are responsible
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  Speaker 2: for the surge and gambling addiction among young men. Gambling
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  Speaker 2: has been around from Na dawna time, we are seeing
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  Speaker 2: an enormous increase of people struggling with gaming addiction. Therefore,
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  Speaker 2: one of two things is so.
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  Speaker 3: Either in twenty twenty six, all of our brains have
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  Speaker 3: somehow changed, or.
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  Speaker 2: The product has changed. The product has changed. A trade
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  Speaker 2: group representing some of the biggest sports betting apps. As
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  Speaker 2: the industry does everything it can to prevent gambling addiction,
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  Speaker 2: including built in wager limits, time limits, and deposit limits.
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  Speaker 6: Our companies continue to communicate that this is an entertainment
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  Speaker 6: 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: bettings supported by artificial and intelligence.
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  Speaker 6: We are not trying to outlaw sports gampling or trying
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  Speaker 6: to make it safer.
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  Speaker 2: But with millions of dollars in tax revenue coming in
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  Speaker 2: every year, it's an uphill battle. Numbers crunched by ABC's
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  Speaker 2: data teams show online sportsbooks generated at least three point
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  Speaker 2: seven billion dollars in taxes for state and local governments
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five, up nearly a billion dollars from
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  Speaker 2: the prior year. In New York, gaming apps, brought in
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  Speaker 2: more than two hundred million dollars more than table games
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  Speaker 2: and slots in one month alone. Lawmakers in California are
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  Speaker 2: introducing legislation that would mandate more stringent age verification tools
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  Speaker 2: and apps and regulate how companies advertise.
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  Speaker 4: This is an opportunity for us to get ahead of
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  Speaker 4: the problem. Finally.
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  Speaker 2: Jim Steyer runs Common Sense Media, the nation's largest children's
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  Speaker 2: advocacy group. He says most young people bet on video
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  Speaker 2: game platforms or offshore sites and now prediction markets like
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  Speaker 2: Calci and Polymarket. Many children also manage to gain access
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  Speaker 2: to legalized forms of betting like sports books.
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  Speaker 3: We're giving you ten profit books every single tournament.
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  Speaker 2: Gamebag and with ads like these flooding the airwaves and
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  Speaker 2: social media, and with a.
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  Speaker 4: Table, you're betting the king sports books.
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  Speaker 2: Critics say these platforms are normalizing a known addictive product.
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  Speaker 4: The young people are being targeted without really understanding it.
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  Speaker 4: 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 in 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 6: This is a product for adults and adults only. That
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  Speaker 6: means not advertising on college campuses, not casting actors or
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  Speaker 6: character portrayals below the age of twenty one on any
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  Speaker 6: advertising or known to attract younger audiences.
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  Speaker 2: They pulled out the BETMGM app and put together a
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  Speaker 2: live parlay. The normalization of gambling in America means that
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  Speaker 2: kids often first learn about gambling from their favorite celebrities
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  Speaker 2: or sports idols before parents can educate them about the risks.
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  Speaker 4: You have to have an ongoing discuss with your kids
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  Speaker 4: about this all day, about not just media and technology,
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  Speaker 4: 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 5: 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 5: This is my life now. No one cares enough about
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  Speaker 5: the gambling addicts except for ourselves to do anything about it.
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  Speaker 5: If it means that I have to make tiktoks out
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  Speaker 5: of my little cubby in my second bedroom here until
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  Speaker 5: the day that I die, I guess that is what
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  Speaker 5: it is.