With sports betting on the rise and college students making their mark in the industry, how does gambling affect vulnerable young athletes and gamblers alike?
Photo via Creative Commons
Sports betting is now an industry that has grown to be worth over $10 billion each year, with college students becoming one of its fastest growing audiences. As the majority of internships are unpaid, and with a growing amount of easily accessible apps and the occasional rush of a parlay hitting, it’s easy to see how sports gambling has taken over the minds of college students. What’s really at stake here? Well, it’s more than just your wallet.
With sports gambling on the rise nationally, it’s not hard to believe that college students want to get in on the action. Sports are a huge part of college culture — whether it be attending games on campus with friends, watching televised games in residence halls or heading down to SoFi Stadium to catch a game in person. Adding the factor of monetary gain, what more could you ask for?
But the truth is, there’s a lot more risk involved than reward. For college students, yes, that bit of financial gain can seem drastic. With entry-level jobs paying less and less, and some internships paying nothing, a quick $200 can be all the difference in going out or staying in this upcoming weekend. But, what happens when you lose your wager?
Setting the scene, a student works eight hours this week at an on-campus job between drowning in exams and schoolwork. The check is barely clearing $300, and they play a third of that online wagering against a “notoriously” bad team. Now, the time has come for the game, they’re an anxious wreck, watching the greatest upset of all time, and down $100 as the underdog comes out on top. Now they are filled with regret and annoyance that their budget has changed for the weekend, and they have one sided beef with their favorite team. Was it worth it?
Each year during March Madness, a spike in the betting on college athletes is seen. This has led to extreme amounts of hate towards players, so much so that the NCAA started their “Draw The Line” campaign in effort to silence the harassment.
Photo via Creative Commons
If you thought that scenario was bad, imagine being a notable college athlete. Fans take their one sided beef with young players online to spew hate and vitriol as if they themselves could play a better game. All around, the risks of sports gambling not only have huge mental health effects on the students making the wagers, but also on the athletes on the field.
According to the NCAA, the effects of gambling related hate causes harm to female athletes at a disproportionate level to their male counterparts. However, the negativity isn’t limited to students; coaches and game officials also receive their share of hostility for plays and calls that may lead to a team’s defeat.
During the 2024-25 March Madness season, the NCAA recognized the spike in hate that college athletes were receiving in their “Draw The Line” campaign, writing, “Sports betting is everywhere — your friends, family and classmates are placing bets, ads are impossible to miss and the prevalence of harassment from angry fans who lost a bet continues to increase.”
As the sports betting industry continues to soar, there are more and more allegations dropping against professional athletes and coaches rumored to be getting in on the action.
Photo via Creative Commons
While college students are taking up more space in the sports betting world, the issues with the culture don’t stop there. At the start of the 2025-26 NBA season, news broke that the Portland Trailblazers’ head coach, Chauncey Billups, as well as NBA player Terry Rozier and former NBA player and former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones were arrested in relation to an illegal sports betting scheme. The three were broadly accused of “participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using insider NBA information,” according to ESPN.
College students, athletes and professional level players and staff are all seeing the negative effects of sports gambling. While the quick financial gain may seem appealing, next time you think of placing that parlay, maybe think twice.