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Kayla, 25, woke up one morning $40,000 in debt from gambling on online solitaire \u2014 her entire after-tax salary for a year. Kayla is not her real name, but she could be anyone\u2019s child, sister or friend: addiction experts say the rise in sports betting and online gaming in the US has led to a dramatic increase<\/a> in Americans looking for help with problem gambling.<\/p>\n Gambling has never been easier in the US \u2014 especially since a landmark 2018 US Supreme Court ruling<\/a> paved the way for states to legalise sports betting<\/a>. Some 38 states<\/a> now offer legal sports betting. Total sports wagers have risen from just under $5bn before the ruling to $121.1bn<\/a> in 2023, 94 per cent of them placed online. Seven US states also allow online casino gambling or \u201ciGaming\u201d and several others are considering legalising it<\/a> \u2014 for the tax revenues but also so they can regulate betting that now occurs illegally.<\/p>\n But if it\u2019s easier to gamble now, it\u2019s also easier to get into trouble over it.<\/p>\n Kayla, for example, says she wagered tens of thousands of dollars she didn\u2019t have \u2014 even though iGaming is illegal<\/a> in her state, Illinois \u2014 because it was so easy to gamble on her phone. She spent eight to 10 hours a day doing it, starting as soon as she got home from work and skipping sleep.\u00a0\u201cI played mostly at night, in bed\u201d, she told me \u201cbut sometimes I was placing bets while sitting right next to my mother, watching TV.\u201d<\/p>\n It was the combination of convenience and secrecy that made it so appealing. \u201cI\u2019m quite lazy, so if I\u2019d had to drive to a casino I wouldn\u2019t have done it,\u201d she said. \u201cThe app let me win a lot at the beginning and then once I started to lose, I was sure I could recoup it if I just kept playing.\u201d She now attends a gambling addiction treatment programme daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are very few social cues to let you know you\u2019ve been gambling too long online. And with 24\/7 availability, \u201cit can be very easy to become untethered from reality\u201d, Rachel Volberg, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who\u2019s been studying problem gambling since 1985, told me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Derek Longmeier, executive director of the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio<\/a>, told me gambling addiction can take a terrible toll on families and society. \u201cOne in five individuals with a gambling disorder will attempt suicide\u201d, much higher than the rate for other addictions, \u201cand that\u2019s because [it] can fly under the radar for so long,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, 2.5mn people<\/a> in the US have a \u201csevere gambling problem\u201d and another 5mn-8mn have \u201cmild or moderate\u201d problems. A 2022 Ohio gambling survey<\/a> found that even before sports betting took off in the state, nearly 20 per cent of its population either had a problem with gambling or was at risk, including 24.1 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds.\u00a0Ohio is considering legalising iGaming.<\/p>\n Regulation may be able to help people avoid problem gambling, experts say. In testimony before the Ohio senate, Scott Ward of the Sports Betting Alliance, a trade association for legal online gaming companies such as FanDuel and DraftKings, said he understands concerns about putting \u201ca casino in every pocket\u201d. But, he added: \u201cUnfortunately\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009there is already a casino in every pocket in Ohio. It is just illegal and\/or unregulated, untaxed, and provides no consumer protections or problem gambling resources.\u201d One study<\/a> estimated the Ohio illegal and unregulated market at $5bn a year.<\/p>\n Volberg says there are measures that can help protect people. Gambling sites can invite players to opt in to self-imposed limits, or preferably force them to opt out. These can cover how much someone can gamble, for how long, how much they can deposit in their accounts and how much they can lose. <\/p>\n Other advocates of regulation say operators should provide clear tools so players can see total losses, and a timer that shows how long they have been playing. Platforms like Gamban<\/a> also allow consumers to self-block from tens of thousands of gambling websites and apps.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should build fences at the top of the cliff rather than park ambulances at the bottom,\u201d says Volberg. That might help stop the Kaylas of the world from ruining their finances with online gambling when their lives have barely even begun.<\/p>\n