Category Archives: Gambling

Many people turned to online gambling during the pandemic. And while a large proportion of us are able to gamble recreationally, without serious negative impact, the pandemic has led to a rise in gambling addictions. In the UK, for example, weve seen the biggest increase in women seeking help ever. Such addiction can lead to problems with mental health, cognition and relationships, as well as leading to bankruptcy and criminality.

Unlike alcohol and drug addiction, where the symptoms are physically noticeable, gambling addiction creates less obvious signs. Our new article, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, reviews research on gambling addiction, and makes recommendations about how to best prevent and treat it.

Gambling is a huge problem. According to the most recent estimate from the World Health Organization, from 2016, players annual global gambling losses were estimated to total US$400 billion (295 billion). In 2021, the UKs Gambling Commission estimated that prevalence of gambling disorder was 0.4% of the population.

Another survey found that the highest rates of problem gambling were in Asia, followed by Australasia and North America, with lower rates in Europe.

Researchers have developed game simulations (which they call tasks) to measure problem gambling, such as the Iowa Gambling Task and the CANTAB Cambridge Gambling Task. In the latter, which assesses risky decision-making and betting, participants are asked to guess whether a yellow chip is hidden within a blue or red box, with the ratios of blue and red boxes changing over time. They can then decide how many of their points to bet on their decision.

If they win, they add the points to their total, but if they lose, those points are lost. They are told to be careful not to go bankrupt losing all their points. This task may be able to detect those gamblers who are at risk of developing a gambling disorder, but may not be there yet particularly if they show signs of being impulsive.

Using such tasks, research has shown that betting, in healthy individuals, is most common in people between the ages of 17 and 27 and declines as we get older. Another study showed that gamblers with addiction problems tend to increase their betting over time, and end up going bankrupt. Alcohol and nicotine dependency have also been linked to greater betting problems.

From neuroimaging studies, it is clear that there are several brain regions associated with gambling. Studies have shown that important regions associated with risky decision-making include the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (involved in decision-making, memory and emotion regulation); orbital frontal cortex (which helps the body respond to emotions); and insula (which regulates the autonomic nervous system). Problem gamblers may therefore have increased activity in these areas.

When gamblers watch the results of their bet, they also show increased brain activation in the reward system of the brain, including the caudate nucleus. This may be particularly strong in people who are addicted to gambling.

Dopamine, a so-called neurotransmitter which helps nerve cells to communicate, is also known to be an important chemical in the brains reward system. One study also found that problem gamblers showed significantly higher levels of excitement when dopamine was released in their brains compared to healthy people. Dopamine release seems to reinforce problem gambling through increasing excitement levels, reducing inhibition of risky decisions, or a combination of both.

In addition, the nucleus accumbens, which plays a role in processing reward, has been shown to be involved in risky behaviours in adolescents and adults. This region is rich in dopamine and suggests a further role for dopamine in risky behaviours.

Currently, gambling disorder is diagnosed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by the American Psychiatric Association. Guidelines for the treatment and management of gambling disorder from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the UK are also being developed and expected to be published in 2024.

Current treatment options include certain forms of cognitive behavioural therapy (which can help people change their thinking patterns) and self-help groups. Some medications, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may be effective in reducing aspects of gambling disorder symptoms, such as depression.

We also know that opioid receptors in the brain help it process rewards, and have long been suspected to be drivers of addiction. We discovered that there is some evidence indicating that a drug called Naltrexone, which blocks opioid receptors, may help some people with gambling disorder. But more research is required before this can become a standard treatment.

There are also things you can do yourself to control your gambling. The NHS Live Well website provides information for services available for problem gamblers. It offers tips such as paying your bills before you gamble, spending time with friends and family who do not gamble, and dealing with your debts. Gamblers would also be wise to avoid seeing gambling as a way to make money, stop bottling up their worries about gambling habits and avoid taking out credit cards to pay for gambling.

As with all mental health problems, the key is to get early support and treatment. This is especially important so that normal rewards, such as spending time with family and enjoying walks and exercise, are still pleasurable and the reward system does not get hijacked by gambling.

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Gambling: what happens in the brain when we get hooked and how to regain control - The Conversation UK

Gambling opponents are still on a winning streak in Hawaii, where state lawmakers have again declined to move forward with any proposals that would legalize casinos, sports betting or lotteries in the islands.

Legislators either voted down those proposals in committees or did not schedule the measures in time to meet a key legislative deadline Thursday, when all bills being considered this session need to move to their final committees in the House and Senate.

Other measures that fell by the wayside included efforts to shield the state from being sued for Covid-19 infections and to crack down on State Auditor Les Kondos office.

The Legislature has considered gambling proposals for decades but none has succeeded. Hawaii and Utah are the only two states that prohibit all forms of gambling.

Even the legislators introducing the bills acknowledged that they had little chance of advancing but said it was important to keep the debate alive.

House Vice Speaker John Mizuno is a gambling proponent. But he said lawmakers are less likely to touch controversial issues since this is an election year. He also doesnt see the political will to move those bills, especially with a budget surplus.

The majority of people in the Legislature do not feel gambling is the way to help Hawaii go forward, Mizuno said.

Opponents remain concerned that the downsides such as possible increases in crime or addiction would outweigh the expected revenue windfall for the state. Although thousands of Hawaii residents fly to Las Vegas to gamble every year, Eva Andrade, CEO of the faith-based Hawaii Family Forum, doesnt want to see increased access here at home.

Now it would all be brought to the front door: all the ill effects that come with gambling would be made available to more people. We dont see that as a positive thing, Andrade said.

Others find ways to play in the islands, including illegal game rooms and cock fights.

Many of the gambling proposals put forward this year, like House Bill 1820, which sought to build a casino in Waikiki, died without a hearing.

Two measures sought to conduct an analysis of the costs and benefits of gambling in Hawaii, specifically for a casino or sports betting operation on Hawaiian homelands.

Senate Bill 2608 and House Bill 1962 would give the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands $500,000 to conduct a gaming study. The House measure never got a hearing. SB 2608 failed in a Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee hearing Feb. 8 on a 2-3 vote.

Sen. Maile Shimabukuro, the committee chairwoman, recommended changing the bill to have DHHL study sports betting or a lottery instead. Sens. Kurt Fevella, Laura Acasio and Les Ihara struck down the proposal.

Fevella, who has opposed gaming on DHHL lands in the past, said in an interview Thursday that he feels any study on gambling should be done statewide, not just on DHHL land. He said the department has plenty of money this year, noting a proposal to provide it with$600 million to develop more affordable housing.

Fevella also worries about negative side effects from gambling, and how the state would cope.

I dont think Hawaiis ready for that, he said, adding that if the state does move forward with gambling, it should start small and look at a lottery or bingo instead.

But even a proposal to create a state-run lottery to fund public education, which had gained some traction last year, failed to advance despite past polls showing a majority of registered voters in Hawaii support the idea.

Senate Bill 2310 would have set up a lottery system, proceeds from which would fund projects to eradicate invasive species. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 2365 would put state lottery revenues toward funding public school improvements, increasing teacher salaries and cooling classrooms.

Neither measure got a hearing in the Senate.

Measures to legalize online sports betting House Bill 1815 and House Bill 1973 also never got a committee hearing.

The House Economic Development Committee held a hearing earlier this month on House Bill 2004, which would have allowed fantasy sports websites like Draft Kings or FanDuel to operate in Hawaii. Rep. Sean Quinlan killed the measure but said he plans to work on a similar proposal during the interim.

Senate Bill 3028, a companion measure to HB 2004, never got a hearing.

In numerous hearings last year, Kondo, the state auditor, sparred with an investigative committee led by House Majority Leader Della Au Belatti. The committee was formed to dig into audits performed on a special land and development fund in the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Agribusiness Development Corp. The committee spent much of its time scrutinizing Kondos office instead.

As a result of the hearings, Belatti introduced two measures, House Bill 2419 and 2420, which sought to disclose the auditors confidential work papers and to set up addditional requirements for how the auditors office reviews draft reports.

Rep. Angus McKelvey, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, killed both measures on Wednesday.

Basically, we dont feel the support is there to move these measures along at this time, McKelvey said.

McKelvey also deferred a measure that would exempt lawmakers from a state ethics rule prohibiting acceptance of food and other gifts from lobbyists.Lawmakers tried to advance similar measures last year after the state Ethics Commission banned them from accepting the gifts of aloha.

A separate measure introduced by Gov. David Iges administration that would have shielded the state from liability over actions it did or didnt take in response to the pandemic also died. Opponents saw Senate Bill 3047 as an attempt to block lawsuits stemming from Covid outbreaks in Hawaiis prisons and jails.

The bill never got a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Karl Rhoads, chairman of that committee, previously said he wasnt inclined to hear it.

Another measure that sought to make it easier for out-of-state dentists to get licensed in Hawaii is also dead for the session. House Bill 1498 never got a hearing.

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Not In The Cards: Gambling Bills Among Dead Proposals At The Hawaii Legislature - Honolulu Civil Beat

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The owners of DiamondJacks Casino effectively told state gambling regulators Thursday that if they cant have Slidell, they dont want Bossier City.

Clearly frustrated by P2E executives who had failed to persuade St. Tammany Parish voters to allow them to build a resort on Lake Pontchartrain to house in Slidell their casino that they would have moved from Bossier City the Louisiana Gaming Control Board answered fine, sell the license in 60 days or have it taken away.

We stand here today and nothing has been done. I dont think a blade of grass has been changed at the property, said Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chair Ronnie Johns, noting that DiamondJacks owners had promised to reopen the Bossier City casino, which closed in March 2020, if the St. Tammany referendum failed, which it did in December.

The choice really came down to how long it would take to get the license for DiamondJacks Casino Bossier City back into commerce, Johns said after the meeting.

Taking the license from the company would launch a process that would take up to five years for the state to complete with all the necessary bids and background checks. Louisiana grants 15 licenses that allow gambling in specific parishes that have agreed. Once the license is awarded, the new owner also would need additional time to complete construction of facilities and open its doors.

A company that sought but failed to win voter approval to build a casino in Slidell is expected to win a bit more time Thursday to decide on w

If the license is sold to another company, then the entire process could be completed in about two years.

Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, called P2E, is the Richmond, Va.-based company that owns DiamondJacks. Company officials began secret negotiations about two weeks ago with Foundation Gaming Group, of Robinsonville, Miss. Foundation owns casinos in Tunica and Vicksburg. The company buys and refurbishes distressed properties, Johns said.

P2E head Brent Stevens and other top executives skipped the nine-member Gaming Control Board hearing that had been scheduled to hear plans for reopening their Bossier City property. The company instead sent a New Orleans lawyer, Peter Connick, and Robert Smith, who is taking care of the abandoned property overlooking the Red River and with its own exit on Interstate 20.

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P2E owners had wanted to move their license from northwest Louisiana to property outside Slidell on Lake Pontchartrain, where they had hoped to build a $325 million casino resort to be called Camellia Bay. But in December to voters of St. Tammany Parish refused to allow casino gambling, which left P2E required to reopen its facility in Bossier City.

Drew Brees may have been all-in for locating a casino near Slidell, but the St. Tammany Parish voters were not at least the ones who partici

Connick said P2E executives had "conceptualized" what it would take to redevelop the Bossier City property if the St. Tammany vote didnt go the companys way.

After the referendum failed, he said, the company determined that the options considered were not viable business operations for the company.

Smith said the vessel on which the casino sits is out of compliance and its certification has lapsed. Air conditioning and plumbing need repairs before an inspector can even be brought on board. Most of the equipment and furnishings in the hotel and restaurant have been sold and would need to be replaced.

The facility has gotten to where its not marketable, said Commissioner Harry Avant, of Shreveport.

City officials are concerned about the condition of the near-abandoned facilities and that police have been called to the property 122 times in a one-year period.

While the boards job is to look after Louisiana taxpayers, we also have an obligation to the city of Bossier City to secure that property, Johns said. That property could sit vacant for years.

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Gambling regulators give 60 days to sell casino owners wanted to move to Slidell - The Advocate

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Nearly three weeks ago, former Dolphins coach Brian Flores dropped a bomb on the NFL by suing the league for racial discrimination in the hiring, compensation, and retention of Black coaches. The lawsuit included a separate allegation that Flores fell out of favor because he refused to go along with a plan to tank in 2019, ultimately refusing an offer from team owner Stephen Ross of $100,000 per loss.

Making the claim that Ross wanted to lose even more jarring is the fact that it allegedly happened at the dawn of the age of legalized sports wagering. As of 2019, roughly six states had legalized sports wagering programs. To the extent that the tanking plan worked, the Dolphins deliberately lost games that someone, somewhere bet hard-earned money theyd win.

For that reason, its hard not to imagine that the Dolphins and the NFL will eventually face a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all those gamblers who placed wagers on the Dolphins to win, either via the money line or with application of the point spread. The argument would be simple. The owners alleged desire to lose games taints the outcome of every loss, justifying a refund of all money wagered and lost.

Its too early to know what Flores will say regarding the tanking plan in 2019. The available evidence suggests that he may have gone along with it through the Week Five bye. The Dolphins lost in Week One to the Ravens, 59-10. Then came a 43-0 loss to the Patriots, a 31-6 drubbing in Dallas, and a 30-10 loss to the Chargers.

During the bye, Flores announced that Josh Rosen would serve as the starting quarterback for the rest of the year. During a Week Six game against Washington, Flores replaced Rosen with Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Dolphins went from losing by a score of 17-3 to a final outcome of 17-16.

In hindsight, that could be the moment at which Flores decided to break from the tanking plan.

Immediately after the loss to Washington, Flores said Rosen remains the starter. The next day, Flores opened the door for Fitzpatrick to reclaim the job. Two days later, it was official Rosen out, Fitzpatrick in.

After starting 0-7, the Dolphins went 5-4. Even without specific testimony from Flores as to whether tanking happened and if so when it ended, it looks like there was something happening. Indeed, some league insiders wondered in September whether it wasnt a one-year tank or Tua but a two-year effort to land Trevor Lawrence.

Regardless, theres a class action waiting to be filed. Frankly, Im surprised it hasnt been filed yet.

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When will the Dolphins, NFL face a class action from gamblers who legally bet on Miami in 2019? - NBC Sports - NFL

One of the UKs most deprived areas has seen four betting shops open within metres of each other, sparking anger from residents.

Betting giants Ladbrokes, William Hill, Paddy Power and Betfred have all recently opened shops in Washwood Heath Road in Ward End, Birmingham an area of high unemployment and low incomes.

A recent University of Bristol study found that a fifth of all gambling premises in the UK are based in the poorest districts, and that betting shops are ten times more likely to be found in poorer areas than more affluent ones.

Local resident Amandeep Khaira said that many in the area felt the proliferation of betting shops was unacceptable.

There is something morally wrong about this

It is no coincidence they have deliberately targeted a deprived area to try and make the most money to line their pockets out of poorer members of society.

There is something morally wrong about this, they know gambling addicts are more likely to be found in these sorts of areas and they are exploiting that fact.

Many people are struggling to make ends meet here and yet the temptation to endlessly fritter away what money they have is found right on their doorsteps.

In a recent City Council meeting, Martin Straker Welds, a councillor for Birminghams Moseley ward, said that current national gambling regulations do not go far enough to protect the vulnerable.

He said: Lax regulation amounts to gambling with peoples lives, and with our values as a council.

Welds added: The overwhelming profit from this industry is drained from those who can least afford it.

Last year, a report from Public Health England revealed that problem gambling cost the nation 1.2 billion in 2020.

The agencys Director of Alcohol, Drugs, Tobacco and Justice, Rosanna OConnor, said: The evidence is clear harmful gambling is a public health issue and needs addressing on many fronts.

The Government is currently considering a reform of gambling legislation, which could see the largest changes to the running of the industry since 2005.

When the Gambling Act 2005 was being considered by Parliament, The Christian Institute published Gambling with our future, which warned that the proposed liberalisation of gambling laws would lead to an increase in problem gambling.

This briefing is a response to the Governments deregulation of Britains gambling industry. The Gambling Bill 2005 is unprecedented in both its scope and aim of encouraging and facilitating gambling. Yet the evidence overwhelmingly shows the Bill will lead to a massive increase in problem gambling.

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Betting giants blasted as four gambling shops open in one of the UK's poorest areas - The Christian Institute

Chinese web-based classified ad platform 58.com is under investigation. A Chinese national, responding to an ad on the site, was ultimately kidnapped and tortured for over six weeks after refusing to do a different job than what had been posted. He ended up in Sihanoukville, Cambodia and, instead of working as a bouncer at a nightclub per the ad, was ordered to work with an online criminal ring. For his refusal, he had 1.5 pints of blood drained daily until he finally escaped.

According to Reuters, Beijing Youth Daily distributed a meeting with the man, who said he had been trafficked last June subsequent to going to Guangxi, China, because of an advertisement on 58.com looking for a nightclub bouncer.

He said he was then sent to the Cambodian seaside city of Sihanoukville by a group of criminals and later compelled to work for different telemarketing scams. In September, his capturers started extracting his blood after he wouldnt work.

Sihanoukville has lately seen a flood of Chinese venture and movement, predominantly in gambling, which is restricted in mainland China.

The Chinese government office in Cambodia on Thursday, in a statement, gave his last name as Li and affirmed pieces of his story, yet didnt make reference to 58.com.

It isnt clear how Li escaped or what online sites he worked for. However, where theres a single victim of human trafficking, there are others.

58.com, similar to Craigslist in China, told state media on Thursday it would help out a police investigation in Cambodia despite the fact that it had not determined that the ad had, in fact, been published on its site.

58.coms reaction to state media turned into a web sensation on Friday, drawing more than 200 million perspectives on Chinese web-based media stage Weibo.

Clients blamed 58.com for a wide scope of untrustworthy practices, from a large number of scams on the platform to the aimless buying and selling of client information.

The organization, in 2020, was taken private by a consortium of financial backers who were upheld by private value firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic. The latter is managed by William E. Ford, its chairman and CEO.

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Company Tied to Investor William E. Ford Accused of Torture, Illegal Gambling - GamblingNews.com

Since sports betting became legal in New York State, there has been an incredible amount of money spent by gamblers this year. In just a few weeks, the totals are pretty spectacular.

The fact that betting became legal during the football season and before the Super Bowl certainly helped to contribute to the amounts. This is good news for the sports betting APPS and sites and it also has generated significant tax revenue.

According to reports, since January 8th, New Yorkers have placed nearly two-billion-dollars in wagers using companies such as DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM among others. As a result, more than 70-million-dollars in tax revenue has been generated for New York.

In an article from the NY Post they noted that:

More than 1.76 million unique player accounts were utilized for more 187 million transactions since last months launch, according to GeoComply, a software firm used by sportsbooks that check bets placed geographically in New York State.

The tax revenue is supposed to go towards several programs like education, youth sports and treatment and recovery services.

7 Toppings That Don't Belong on Pizza

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Gambling In New York? Here's How Much Tax Money NY Took - wyrk.com

KAITLIN BROWN'S WORK cellphone has an obscenely loud ringtone, and when it goes off during the day, it routinely startles her and her 2-year-old daughter, Emilia. The phone is always there -- on the counter in front of her, on the couch beside her, even on the changing table if there's a new diaper necessary.

In early December, her phone rings and shows a caller ID that sends her rushing to pick up as soon as humanly possible. "CCPG HELPLINE," it says.

Brown, 36, is the exact person you want answering a problem gambling help line. A licensed counselor for drug, alcohol and gambling addiction, she's a 14-year veteran working in addiction services, including the past five at the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling. As a little girl, she attended 12-step meetings with her dad as he tried to get sober (he did), and has seen the ravages of addiction elsewhere in her family, too. She's hesitant to talk about herself, but she has the perfect blend of empathy and fierceness to deal with people struggling with addiction.

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The incoming call is from someone who reached out to Connecticut's version of what many states now have, a toll-free help line for people who think they might have a gambling problem. Like other states that have rushed to legalize sports betting since the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban in May 2018, Connecticut is in the middle of giant spike in both the volume of calls and the number of callers who specifically mention sports gambling as a part of their problem.

On this December day, Brown grabs her phone and answers with her standard greeting: "Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling help line. Can I help you?"

The man gives his name -- Brown can't provide personal information, so let's call him Mike -- and says he's in his early 20s. Last October, as soon as Connecticut legalized sports gambling, Mike downloaded the FanDuel app and started betting ... and now he says he can't stop. He says it's just so easy now, 10 seconds away on his phone. He blew through thousands of dollars that his parents thought were going toward college. The man, like so many of the younger callers Brown talks to these days, says he dabbles in cryptocurrency and day trading, too.

"I can't tell my parents about any of this," he says. "I can't talk to anybody about it. What do I do?"

Brown listens to Mike explain his situation, then she begins running through a checklist that she helped create for Connecticut. She first asks if he is considering harming himself or someone else. Compared with other addictions, studies have shown that problem gamblers are much more likely to attempt suicide or have suicidal thoughts.

"No," Mike says.

Then she works her way through options. Her main goal isn't to diagnose, it's to funnel people toward the right next step. Sometimes people want help locating a Gamblers Anonymous meeting. Sometimes people are desperate to get sent to treatment, which Brown can often do within 24 hours or so. Sometimes callers aren't gamblers themselves but are worried about a friend or loved one who might have a problem. Data collected by CCPG shows that the average problem gambler directly impacts nine other people.

Mike is one of the many callers who is contemplating, for the first time, whether he might have a gambling problem. Brown gets a few calls a week like this, where the person on the other end has never said that out loud to another person.

Help line callers often decline to give their name, then proceed to tell the most intimate, truthful version of their life story that they've ever put into words. Gambling is often tricky for others to see and is considered a hidden addiction -- you can't smell sports betting on someone's breath or find them passed out on the bathroom floor from a gambling overdose. In studies, problem gamblers report much higher rates of feeling like they're living secret lives and having more shame than with other addictions.

That's the case with Mike. He says he's scared, and he asks questions about whether he might have a problem. Callers regularly want someone on the other end of the line to give them an answer about whether they do or do not have a problem. But gambling counselors like Brown shy away from that. There are a few cardinal rules that the problem gambling councils adhere to. One is that the councils take no position, for or against, gambling itself. And secondly, they won't declare you an addict. "I never tell somebody they have a gambling problem," she says. "It's up to that person to decide if they have a problem."

Mike pushes for her opinion, so Brown sidesteps by mentioning some of the things that are most common to problem gambling. Is it causing significant issues in your life? Do you have gambling debt? Do you set limits that you don't stick to? Is gambling fun and entertaining, or a compulsion that you become preoccupied with? She'll occasionally tell people to check out Gamblers Anonymous' 20-question survey, which covers some of the same topics and includes a statement that most problem gamblers answer yes to seven or more questions.

Mike listens intently, but he's mostly noncommittal. She asks if Mike wants to set up a session with a counselor, or if he's considering entering formal treatment.

"I don't think I need that," he says.

After she floats those options, Brown usually mentions Gamblers Anonymous as a possibility. "Want me to find a meeting near your house?" she asks him.

"Nah, I don't think so," he says. "You know what? I'm just going to delete the apps."

He doesn't want to go any further than that, so she winds down the call by giving him her direct number. Brown says many callers are just getting to the point of wanting help and not knowing how to start, so having a sympathetic, actual human being to call back later -- versus dialing the help line again -- has proven successful.

"If you change your mind and want to talk more, you can call me directly," she tells him.

Mike thanks her, and before he hangs up, he says, "This call really helped me. Thank you. I feel a little better now than I did when I called. I felt such shame and fear, and I've never told anybody the stuff I just told you. It really helped me to talk to someone who didn't judge me."

They say goodbye, and Brown is as happy as you can be doing her job. Maybe deleting the apps will work for Mike. Maybe it won't. The only thing she knows for sure is someone else will be calling soon.

OVER THE NEXT few months, gambling help line workers are anticipating two of their busiest times ever. First, the Super Bowl, where last year 23 million Americans bet about $4.5 billion, the highest totals for any single event in the country. Then, a month later, they expect an influx of calls around March Madness, which includes twice as many bettors and overall dollars wagered over the course of three weeks.

The U.S. is already deep in a gambling boom that the help lines and councils aren't equipped to deal with yet. The National Council for Problem Gambling cites studies showing that about 2.2% of American adults -- nearly 6 million people -- are susceptible to problem gambling, and that number doubles for people who regularly bet. In Connecticut, that means three CCPG employees are dealing with a population of 58,000 problem gamblers, with as many as 500,000 friends and loved ones in the direct path of those struggling addicts.

Calls to the help line have quadrupled since sports betting became legal, and the number of online chat requests went from 13,344 in 2021 to 13,143 in January 2022 alone. It's been a crushing surge, and Brown says she thinks the guardrails for problem gambling are about 40 years behind other addictions. "I thought it would be three, four, five years till we were seeing this level of people looking for help," Brown says. "But it took about six to eight weeks."

Gambling might seem different than substance abuse. But it has a very similar effect on the brain for those 20-million-plus Americans believed to be struggling with addiction; the American Psychiatric Association announced in 2013 that problem gambling belongs under the same umbrella of disorders as opiate or alcohol abuse. Experts stress that it's too soon to make broad declarations on the impact of legalized sports betting across the country, but early signs -- especially the enormous spike in help line calls -- show that gambling addiction may be every bit the public health danger as opiates or alcohol because of the stunning speed of its destructive path. The bottom often comes fast, with far-reaching consequences for family members.

A few weeks ago, Brown wasn't available to grab a help line call on a Monday morning, so it kicked to her boss, CCPG executive director Diana Goode. If Goode or communications director Paul Tarbox can't grab it, they have trained backup phone workers on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Somebody is always there.

The man on the other end of the line had a painful story that he needed somebody to hear. He hadn't gambled since 2004. He'd called the help line years ago and got set up on the state's self-exclusion lists. Connecticut has worked with its two casinos, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, to allow people with a problem to ban themselves from the establishments. Something like 30% of help line calls are people inquiring about the self-exclusion lists.

But this man was one of the growing number of people calling because they know they have an issue with casinos and sportsbooks but have relapsed as technology has brought gambling closer to home. He'd seen such a steady stream of Facebook ads for FanDuel and DraftKings that eventually he couldn't resist one of the sizable "no risk," free money offers to sign up. He'd started gambling again and spent his life savings, all using his phone. The casino had come to him. He could bet with one swipe of his finger, and when he'd lose, he ended up chasing his losses with in-game bets. He bet over and over again, and in just a few weeks, everything was gone. He needed help.

Goode set him up with treatment options and hung up the phone. She'd done her job, and as she tells that story, she reiterates a common theme from the problem gambling treatment community: They don't want to ban gambling. The goal is to create a safety net at a rate commensurate with the deluge of ads. "We are not here to tell you how to spend your disposable income -- we're not the fun police," she says. "We just want to make sure that as gambling becomes easier and more accessible that safeguards are in place for people who gamble and run into trouble. And that's not true in Connecticut right now. We don't have the funding."

Funding is a thorny universal issue across the country. Most problem gambling councils are nonprofits funded by casinos, lotteries and sportsbooks. In nearly every one of the 33 state legislatures that have legalized sports gambling, the bills mandated the gambling operators themselves provide funding for problem gambling councils.

"It's been harder to work with state governments than the industry operators themselves," says Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. "Most people would think that their state governments are of course there to protect citizens. Frankly that hasn't been the case."

Whyte gives credit to FanDuel and DraftKings, who both have employees devoted to internally advocating for responsible gaming. But he also thinks the future of funding might involve heavy investment from leagues themselves. The NFL recently gave $6.2 million to Whyte and the NPGC, which he can use to boost his staff from nine to 11 employees, beef up ads for what to do if you need help and open up a grant submission process for individual states to apply for their needs.

Whyte says he hopes the NFL will expand its investment in problem gambling treatment, while also being quick to point out what a breakthrough it is to have a league providing funding. Most big pro sports leagues in the U.S. have joined as NCPG members -- the NHL and UFC are the most notable absences -- but the NFL is the only one to make a donation. In fact, the NFL is the largest single donor in the 50-year history of the organization.

"Leagues need to cover their own butt and make sure some of their fans don't get jammed up," Whyte says. "It's a competitive advantage to take the lead in problem gambling."

FOR THE PAST few years, and for the foreseeable future, the No. 1 most effective tool for problem gambling is the help line -- if you can figure out which one to use.

On almost every front, the National Problem Gambling Council and the individual state councils are on the same page. But the litany of help line numbers remains a complicated topic.

At the end of every FanDuel and DraftKings ad or online story, there is a long paragraph with all the numbers you can call. There are usually eight numbers (not every state has a help line). The NCPG has its own number, 1-800-522-4700, and New Jersey snagged perhaps the most memorable one, 1-800-GAMBLER, which takes calls from seven different states.

But the vast majority of state help lines are devoted specifically to residents of that state. When Brown gets a call from somebody in Pennsylvania or New York, she passes them along to resources in those places.

The NCPG has broached the idea of one convenient, universal number. But the state councils largely believe there is value in keeping some autonomy and local know-how in the process. Help line conversations can be incredibly intimate and intimidating for the problem gambler on the other end of the phone. Brown thinks it is a different kind of personal interaction when she is able to say, "Oh, you're calling from Hartford? You guys got quite a bit of snow last Wednesday, huh?" and can name specific rehabs, with specific counselors, who might be able to help.

The calls themselves, though, remain a wild grab bag every day. Many states report getting close to 60-70% of calls from aggravated FanDuel or DraftKings users who can't log into their accounts or want to know the lottery numbers. Connecticut added a short, recorded menu at the beginning of a call that explains this is a problem gambling help line, not a way to help you get back to gambling, and gives options for directly contacting the companies. Still, about half of the calls the CCPG got in December were people punching the option for a live person to help them recover their account username.

All told, Brown thinks the number of serious treatment inquiries is about 30%. In December, that translated to an average of six to seven people every day.

In early January, Brown starts to tell a story about a call she had gotten earlier that morning. A woman had called about her husband, who had gambled away their life savings once and gotten help. They'd rebuilt their financial lives over the course of a few years as he stayed away from casinos.

But she'd called the help line that morning because he'd relapsed, and everything was gone again. The culprit? Legalized sports betting. "I need help," she told Brown.

Brown is halfway through that story when she says, "I'm sorry, hold on." There's muffled talking in the background. "My 2-year-old is stuck in a chair."

She has been doing this life-changing work from her house the past two years during the pandemic, all while managing new motherhood. Emilia recognizes the help line ringtone and knows that she must find something to do on her own for a few minutes if she hears it. (Does she finagle extra screen time and some bonus snacks to hold up her end of the bargain? Yes.)

Once Emilia has been unstuck from the chair, Brown picks up where she left off about the woman whose husband relapsed. Brown had run through the options for treatment, both for her and her husband. As tough as problem gambler calls can be, loved ones in pain are especially devastating to pick up. The path of wreckage behind a problem gambler can be big enough to affect generations. "When we treat people, we don't just treat the gambler," she says. "We treat the whole family, because it's a family disease."

By the end of the call, Brown has given the woman her cellphone number and contact information for treatment facilities. The woman sounded like she was hoping her husband would check into rehab. Did he? Did she get herself help, too? Perhaps she followed through on Brown's suggestion to read up on Gam-Anon, a 12-step program for friends and loved ones with a problem gambler in their lives?

Brown doesn't know. She has gotten used to the uncertainty of wondering whether a caller starts gambling again five minutes later or goes to treatment and lives happily ever after. She has a framed version of the serenity prayer hanging behind her office chair, a gift from someone she helped get into substance abuse treatment years ago. She embraces the message of the prayer, which asks for the serenity to accept the things that cannot be changed, the courage to change the things that can, and the wisdom to know the difference. She's learned to focus on the effort and let go of the results. Not everybody gets sober. But they all deserve a chance.

As she thinks about success stories, though, she remembers a recent rare case when she heard back from a problem gambler.

He said he'd called the help line and spoken to her a few years ago. He'd enrolled in treatment and hadn't gambled since. He had called back to let her know he was getting married, and was happier than ever. "That was nice to hear," she says. "A lot of the impact is left to your imagination."

Brown sleeps pretty well at night -- unless her CCPG ringtone goes off. It's rare that the night counselors on call don't get to the help line before it kicks to her in the middle of the night. But it happens once in a while and usually wakes up the whole house. Her daughter and husband know how important that ringtone is to her.

Brown says one night a few months ago, she leapt up, turned the light on and grabbed the phone. She started talking to the person on the other end of the line, and she could hear her daughter, in her quietest 2-year-old voice, say, "Dad, shhhhhhh. Mommy's helping people."

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be assessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) for residents of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Wyoming. If you're in Arizona, use 1-800-NEXT-STEP. In Colorado and New Hampshire, use 1-800-522-4700. In Connecticut, use 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat. In Iowa, call 1-800-BETS-OFF. In New York, you can call 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY to 467369. In Tennessee, call or text 1-800-889-9789. In Virginia, call 1-888-532-3500. For GA information and meetings near you, check out gamblersanonymous.org.

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Inside the life of a gambling help line worker - ESPN

[Read how the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl.]

During a 2012 deposition, a lawyer for the N.F.L. argued that the league was adamantly opposed to sports gambling because it would negatively impact our long-term relationship with our fans, negatively impact the perception of our sport across the country.

Today, not so much.

For Sundays Super Bowl, 31.4 million Americans are expected to place $7.6 billion in legal bets, both records and increases of 35 and 78 percent over last year, respectively, according to the American Gaming Association.

This past year, partnerships with sports gambling companies and casinos represented a significant chunk of the N.F.L.s record $1.8 billion in sponsorship revenue, with virtually every big name including DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, BetMGM and PointsBet getting a piece of the action.

And earlier this week, the N.F.L. reached its first sportsbook deal in Canada, in anticipation of the introduction of regulated sports betting in Ontario in April.

Its a tectonic shift its massive in terms of taking one side of one issue, and benefiting from the other side 10 years later, said Max Bichsel, the vice president of NewYorkBets.com, a sports betting research and analysis company.

For those who may have only recently started to pay attention to sports betting perhaps because of the barrage of commercials during the N.F.L. playoffs and the Olympics featuring the Manning family and other former athletes here is a guide to how the N.F.L. did an about-face in just a decade.

Very.

For decades, the N.F.L. feared that legalized gambling would commingle with match-fixing and corruption and hurt the integrity of the sport. One of the defining scandals in the N.F.L.s pre-merger days was the 1963 suspension of two major stars, the Hall of Famers Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers and Alex Karras of the Detroit Lions, for betting on league games and associating with gamblers or known hoodlums.

That reluctance only intensified in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush signed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or PASPA, which banned sports wagering in most states, with Nevada being the most notable exemption.

N.F.L. players were prohibited from participating in events that took place at or were sponsored by casinos. The best-known example, perhaps, was when the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was blocked in 2015 from attending a fantasy football event at a convention center attached to a casino in Las Vegas.

In 2014, Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times supporting efforts to regulate and legalize sports betting. After all, Silver argued, underground sports betting worth an estimated $400 billion annually was already occurring, and times had changed since PASPA was enacted. Lotteries and casinos had become ubiquitous.

The N.F.L. and everyone else took notice.

This was not a light-switch moment this was very slow and very steady, said John Holden, a business professor at Oklahoma State University who has written extensively about sports gambling. The N.F.L. watched as the other three leagues jumped, and then the N.F.L. said, OK.

Just as important was the fact that two of the most prominent N.F.L. team owners, Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, were early and enthusiastic investors in DraftKings and fantasy sports. And while the N.F.L. challenged New Jerseys new sports betting statute in 2012 a case decided by the Supreme Court individual teams signed sponsorship deals with sportsbooks companies, which began spending big on television spots during the N.F.L. season.

Those contradictions were never more evident than in 2017, when the leagues owners voted overwhelmingly to allow the Raiders to move to Las Vegas from Oakland, Calif., and local officials paid $750 million in construction costs for a new stadium right off the Strip, said David G. Schwartz, an Atlantic City, N.J., native and longtime chronicler of gambling history who is now the ombuds at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

The seismic change in sports betting, of course, occurred in 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down the 1992 law. States that had anticipated the decision, like New Jersey, got an early jump on sports betting. Leagues and teams became even more emboldened to collaborate with gambling-related businesses, including casinos and betting apps.

When the world is changing, you want control, said Oliver Hahl, a Carnegie Mellon University business professor who has studied sports authenticity and organizational theory.

To be sure, the N.F.L. and other leagues tried to exert more control by arguing, chiefly in statehouses around the country, that there should be some taxes or fees that went to the leagues, and not the sportsbooks. But the leagues have had only limited success, said Chris Grove, a distinguished fellow at U.N.L.V.s International Center for Gaming Regulation, and a partner emeritus at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, a research and consulting firm.

A wave of scrutiny. The most popular sports league in America is facing criticism and legal issues on several fronts, ranging from discrimination to athletes injuries. Heres a look at some of the recent controversies confronting the N.F.L., its executives and teams:

A demoralizing culture for women. After the 2014 Ray Rice scandal, the N.F.L. stepped up its efforts to hire and promote women. But more than 30 former staff members interviewed by The Times described a stifling corporate culture that has left many women feeling pushed aside.

Sexual harassment claims. Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Commanders, is the subject of an N.F.L. inquiry after sexual harassment allegationswere made against him by former employees. In July, the league fined the franchise $10 million after an investigation into allegations of harassmentin the teams front office.

More than 30 states have authorized sports wagering since the Supreme Court decision, and California could join them later this year. Meanwhile, New York, where the N.F.L. has its main headquarters, has quickly become the nations largest sports betting market, topping New Jersey, after just four weeks of accepting mobile bets.

In a few short years, the very idea of sports betting has been transformed from a taboo and sub rosa vice into a major business opportunity, according to a recent report from MoffettNathanson, a research firm. All the leagues have flipped positions to now embrace sports gambling with exclusive partnerships. Following the money and consumer interest, media companies have struck many deals to align themselves with various sports betting operators.

Football is the most popular sport for bettors, and the N.F.L. continues to worry about the integrity of the game. In 2019, the league suspended Josh Shaw, an injured Arizona Cardinals defensive back at the time, for betting on N.F.L. games. And any scandal that ensnares players, coaches or referees on the order of Tim Donaghy, a former N.B.A. referee who went to prison for betting on games, would be devastating.

The N.F.L. has also been under pressure to tackle compulsive gambling behavior. It started a campaign to encourage responsible gambling at the beginning of the current season, through a $6.2 million partnership with the National Council on Problem Gambling.

Still, more controls are needed, especially on in-game sports betting, which feeds into a compulsive gamblers desire for more and faster opportunities to bet, said Keith Miller, a professor at Drake University Law School. Miller spoke during a panel Wednesday on the ethics of legal sports gambling organized by Baruch Colleges Zicklin School of Business.

What the N.F.L. and the country should keep in mind, said Holden, who was also on the panel, is the experience of the United Kingdom and Europe, where legal sports betting has been more established: Both have witnessed serious gambling addiction issues.

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How The NFL Did An About-Face on Sports Gambling - The New York Times