{"id":236049,"date":"2025-07-04T00:19:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T00:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/236049\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T00:19:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T00:19:13","slug":"gambling-addiction-in-the-military-may-be-going-unnoticed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/236049\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling addiction in the military may be going unnoticed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The military is full of young men who are drawn to risky behaviors, a demographic that experts say has the greatest probability for developing gambling addictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biopsychosocial factors of that military population \u2014 it\u2019s likely a younger male audience, high-risk takers, adrenaline seekers \u2014 those types of personalities that are drawn to the military are also very likely drawn to gambling for the same reasons,\u201d said Cait Huble, director of communications for the National Council on Problem Gambling.<\/p>\n

Experts who study addiction say gambling is a blind spot in the military\u2019s approach to mental health. Each branch treats problem gambling differently, ranging from a mental health issue to a \u201ccrime against society\u201d like prostitution. Official data on gambling in the ranks comes through voluntary surveys, responses to which are often not truthful.<\/p>\n

But advocates hope new funding from Congress might soon begin to change that. <\/p>\n

\u201cGambling addiction holistically, across the spectrum, even outside the DoD population, is horrendously underresearched. We have very limited data,\u201d Huble told Task & Purpose. \u201cWe don\u2019t have good prevalence information on the general population and then within military populations, especially, there is not really standardized screening from branch to branch.\u201d<\/p>\n

As defense officials finalize the 2026 budget, the National Council on Problem Gambling \u2014 which advocates for addiction treatment but still supports legalized betting \u2014 is asking Congress to help study gambling in the military to improve prevention and treatment options. Major gambling companies like FanDuel Group and BetMGM are also pushing Congress to study the issue in the military.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In June, the council sent a letter<\/a> to Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), who lead the defense subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, asking that problem gambling issues in the military be included as an eligible topic for Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program<\/a> in the fiscal year 2026 defense appropriations bill. The letter was signed by BetMGM, FanDuel Group, MGM Resorts International, and problem gambling councils from 29 states.<\/p>\n

As gambling has grown, research has not<\/p>\n

The last study to look at the issue of gambling across the U.S. population at large was done in 1999 by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission<\/a>, which noted that legalized gambling was a \u201crelatively rare phenomenon\u201d until racetracks, lotteries, and casinos became legal across 48 states.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s gambling landscape is vastly larger. Americans in 30 states can gamble money away at their fingertips on sports betting smartphone apps or websites, according to a tracker maintained by the Legal Sports Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AA Jumpmaster assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division conducts door checks on a C-17 Globemaster III during an airborne operation over Sicily Drop Zone, North Carolina. Army photo by Pfc. Prim Hibbard.<\/p>\n

Studies have shown that high-risk factors for developing gambling addictions mirror the vast majority of the military population: young men between 18 and 29, inclination to take risks<\/a>, and lives that include stress, depression<\/a> and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms<\/a>. A 2021 Rutgers University Study<\/a> found that service members were twice as likely to develop a gambling disorder. A 2020 review of existing studies<\/a> found that veterans have higher rates of gambling disorder compared with civilian populations.<\/p>\n

The fact that Fanduel and BetMGM are calling for more research into gambling disorders may raise some eyebrows, but industry players have efforts dedicated to \u201cresponsible gaming\u201d \u2014 a similar concept to the casino industry\u2019s \u201cresponsible gambling\u201d practice which is based on the idea that there are safe and healthy ways to do it without going overboard. In 2023, DraftKings announced funding<\/a> for the 50x4Vets program from the Kindbridge Research Institute<\/a> \u2014 the only organization dedicated to studying gambling disorders in the military population.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Issues with existing data<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have anything that even offers something remotely that looks like a smoking gun, that this is a huge issue,\u201d said Mark Lucia, a program manager at Kindbridge. \u201cSo what can you do? You can look at the things that you know are issues and look at what they point to, and to me, they kind of consistently point to the same sorts of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucia, a former 10th Special Forces Group soldier, said that in addition to demographic and lifestyle factors, he believes the cultural inclinations and behaviors of young men in the military also show the potential for higher rates of gambling addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are a risk taker. You\u2019re competitive. It lines up perfectly. Now you\u2019ve created apps that are addictive,\u201d Lucia said. \u201cI knew a guy who told me he would play somewhere in the ballpark of 30 hours of World of Warcraft on weekends. \u2026 Is it that hard to believe that you swap out his computer and keyboard with a phone and a sports book that it\u2019s going to be any different at all?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Defense\u2019s 2018 survey<\/a> of troop health behaviors found the prevalence of problem gambling across the active duty population was approximately 1.6%, mostly among enlisted men. The 2002 survey found an even smaller 1.2% prevalence rates.<\/p>\n

Nathan Smith, founding executive director of Kindbridge said those results were \u201can incomprehensibly silly number\u201d and that, compared to general population rates, they just don\u2019t make sense. According to the NCPG<\/a>, among all U.S. adults \u2014\u00a0most of whom are not young men, as in the military \u2014 2.5 million, or 1%, are estimated to meet the criteria for a severe gambling problem each year and another 5 to 8 million, 2-3%, have mild or moderate gambling problems.<\/p>\n

\"OnlineOnline sports gambling companies regularly target military audiences with promotions. Photos from eBay,\u00a0DraftKings.com<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason why they get this number is because they asked people: Do you have a gambling problem? And if you say yes, then you\u2019re going to lose your career,\u201d Smith said, touching on a common enough theme in the military where some service members self-censor during mental health surveys due to fears over how their answers will impact their careers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How the services handle gambling<\/p>\n

The Uniformed Code of Military Justice does not ban gambling, with the exception of gambling with a subordinate<\/a>. Most disciplinary actions related to gambling arise when a service member has unpaid rent or car payments, said Dave Yeager, a former soldier who now counsels troops dealing with the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNine times out of 10, what\u2019s happening is they\u2019re being brought in for financial counseling because they haven\u2019t paid a bill or you know something\u2019s come up financially,\u201d Yeager said. \u201cMost financial institutions know if you\u2019re dealing with active duty that if they report it back to the command, you\u2019re gonna get counsel and you\u2019re gonna end up paying that bill so that\u2019s how a lot of that gets reported back.\u201d<\/p>\n

A January 2017<\/a> Government Accountability Office report recommended that the branches \u201cexplicitly include gambling disorder\u201d in substance abuse policies because without it, the services could not provide appropriate treatment, mitigation or prevention measures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause there\u2019s no good treatments, then nobody will talk about it. Because nobody will talk about it, then when we study it, nobody says they have it and when nobody says they have it, then they won\u2019t do a treatment,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s this trail of denial.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Department of Defense has since included screening questions on gambling problems in Periodic Health Assessments, but concerns around limited privacy over mental health disclosures<\/a> and the impact on military careers likely mean that troops\u2019 answers are not fully reflective of the problem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Army\u2019s substance abuse program regulation<\/a> lists gambling disorder under \u201ccrimes against society\u201d along with prostitution, weapons violations and vagrancy as data that commanders are required to report each month. The Navy and Marine Corps\u2019 substance abuse policies include five sentences on gambling disorder and the Air Force has stated that it will not treat gambling disorder the same as substance abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yeager spent 11 years in the Army before he was given a general discharge under honorable conditions for issues related to his gambling addiction. He was based in South Korea right after 9\/11. Stressed and unable to fall asleep, Yeager discovered slot machines at the hotel on base. Over the next year, he said the problem escalated, giving excuses to his wife to send him more money, selling all of his belongings, borrowing money from subordinates and stealing equipment and money from his unit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yeager said his gambling addiction led to four suicide attempts, a fairly common story among veterans. An analysis of veterans who went through the gambling treatment program<\/a> at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ohio found that 40% had attempted suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was right for them to let me out of the military. I did damage. I was a non-commissioned officer who didn\u2019t live up to what I was wearing on my collar,\u201d Yeager said. \u201cI just wish there had been more conversation around, \u2018hey, this is a disease, and even though we can\u2019t help you right here, right now, go get help.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest on Task & Purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n