The Philadelphia Eagles were not the only big winners in Super Bowl LIX. The week before the game, the American Gaming Association predicted that bettors would wager an estimated $1.4 billion on the NFL’s iconic season finale. Since the Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event in the country and many bettors wanted to get in on the action, roughly 724,000 new online customer accounts were created in regulated states over the course of Super Bowl weekend. Both figures shattered records. Even ESPN, the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports coverage, had its biggest on-camera stars doing commercials on the network promoting its sports betting app.
Gambling has a strong grip on American culture, and states, desperate for new sources of revenue, muscled into the sector after the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018. PASPA had largely prohibited states from legalizing sports gambling. During the PASPA era, the only type of gambling that was consistently legal across states was state-run lotteries. This shift in access has marked a stark reversal in public attitudes toward 24/7/365 gambling nationwide. Yet most states have largely overlooked the growing social consequences, especially when it comes to young people.
Virginia was one of the first states to legalize in-person casino gambling in 2019 and online sports betting in 2021. Prior to that, Virginia’s only legalized gambling options were the state-run lottery and horse racing. But concerns about the deleterious effects of gambling on young people quickly put Virginia on the front lines of the fight against addiction to high-stakes games. According to 2022 data from the Virginia Council on Problem Gambling, gamblers aged 18-24 made up 16 percent of all the calls made to their helpline.
Virginia was one of the first states to legalize in-person casino gambling in 2019 and online sports betting in 2021.
That indicator alarmed state lawmakers, especially since individuals who begin gambling at an early age are more likely to develop addiction disorders. Although they were not the largest cohort, that sizable percentage of young gamblers, along with a 1,500 percent increase in total calls to the hotline since legalization, forced the legislature to act. Just two years after legalization, Virginia became the first state in the country to add gambling to state education standards for teaching about addiction behaviors in K-12 public schools.
In November 2024, The Lancet, a British medical journal, released a report indicating that young adults and children were uniquely at risk for gambling addiction. The gambling industry’s ties with professional sports comprise its most high-profile and profitable relationships: The Lancet report describes them as “analogous to those formed between sports organisations and the tobacco and alcohol industries.”
Social media also has played a key role in expanding the market for young gamblers. One British online survey found that 73 percent of respondents aged 18-24 saw gambling advertisements on social media at least once a week. A second British study found that approximately 41,000 British children follow X (formerly Twitter) gambling accounts.
There’s widespread concern that video games introduce gambling-type features to kids that can lead them to addictive behaviors. “Loot boxes” (think online “treasure chests”) require players to buy virtual trading cards (with real money) featuring supercharged versions of current or past sports superstars to use in online games. Some of these features can be found in video games licensed by major sports leagues, such as NBA 2K and Madden NFL, named for the iconic NFL coach and television commentator.
Parents often think of sports video games as a safe, all-ages alternative to video games that can glamorize graphic violence. The Entertainment Software Rating Board, which creates parental ratings for video games, provides an explainer about a notice indicating “in-game purchases (includes random items).” Even so, since popular sports video games are often rated “E for everyone,” most parents may be unaware of problematic features like loot boxes that fall into the “random items” category.
Virginia’s guidelines for problem-gambling education note that loot boxes expose children as young as 10 or 11 to “the thrill of not knowing what they will get,” which resembles the “thrill of chance” psychophysiological responses that slot machines can evoke.
A key component of Virginia’s plan to combat rising gambling addiction is to destigmatize addiction treatment among kids. Anne Rogers, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services’ (DBHDS) problem gambling prevention coordinator, says the Virginia curriculum, which will be implemented in grades 8-12, will emphasize the “brain science” behind gambling addiction. “Lots of people think, ‘Well, you can’t be addicted to something that you’re not ingesting anything in your body, right?’ It’s not a drug, it’s not alcohol, but it impacts the brain in very similar ways as if you had taken a drug.”
Students will also learn about the kinds of adverse childhood experiences that could lead to higher risk factors for gambling addiction, the signs and symptoms of gambling addiction, and some personal finance basics.
The behavioral health agency and the state department of education developed the curriculum with feedback from Virginia’s various local community service boards, which offered useful insights from local addiction services practitioners who work with people seeking treatment.
The 2022 law provided no additional funding to produce the curriculum, so Virginia’s DBHDS stepped in to cover the gaps with monies from the state’s Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund. Virginia hopes to roll out the curriculum by the beginning of the next school year in the fall of 2025.
While the associated tax revenues have certainly improved states’ fiscal outlooks, those benefits will invariably be undercut by the social costs of gambling. At the very least, states that legalize sports gambling should set aside a percentage of their gambling revenues to confront these issues head-on. Unfunded mandates that force states to develop creative strategies to help more people with existing or fewer dollars will not help problem gamblers deal with addiction. As professional sports leagues welcome new audiences with fun ways to lose money, young people and their parents must understand the perils of addiction and recognize the signs in order to seek help and treatment if necessary.