{"id":373983,"date":"2025-11-12T17:04:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/373983\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T17:04:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:04:14","slug":"online-gambling-is-everywhere-so-are-the-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/373983\/","title":{"rendered":"Online gambling is everywhere. So are the risks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Online betting is more accessible than ever, with 14% of U.S. adults saying they bet on professional or college sports online either frequently or occasionally, according to a February poll<\/a> by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It’s also in the news, with a growing list of sports betting scandals<\/a> making headlines.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Public health advocates and personal finance advisers say it’s important to know the risks if you’re going to gamble online.<\/p>\n

\u201cGambling and \u2018responsibly\u2019 seem to be oxymoronic, because if you\u2019re gambling it\u2019s all about risk,\u201d said Caleb Silver, editor in chief of personal finance site Investopedia. \u201cBut people still do it. Online gambling and sports betting are only becoming more popular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the Supreme Court struck down a ban<\/a> on sports betting in 2018, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized gambling, according to the American Gaming Association.<\/p>\n

For those new to online gambling, it can be helpful to set limits in advance on how much you’re willing to lose and how much time you’re willing to spend. Many of the platforms and apps that offer gambling, such as FanDuel and DraftKings, include optional safeguards to limit time or losses. Other apps can block access to the platforms for set amounts of time.<\/p>\n

Here’s what to know:<\/p>\n

Online gambling can be riskier than gambling in person<\/p>\n

The potential losses of digital betting can occur more quickly than in a physical casino, according to Heather Eshleman, director of operations at the Maryland Center for Excellence on Problem Gambling, since people can bet so much so easily and quickly on the internet or apps, with less friction.<\/p>\n

The new prevalence of prediction markets, such as PredictIt and Kalshi, has also created new opportunities to place wagers online on everything from election outcomes to celebrity news to the weather.<\/p>\n

How to tell if you have a problem with online gambling<\/p>\n

According to public health advocates, the biggest warning sign of a problem is if you\u2019re devoting time to online betting that\u2019s taking away from other things in your life \u2014 especially your relationships with friends, family, and work. If you’re spending money on gambling<\/a> that could instead go towards unmet basic needs, that’s also a warning sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe encourage people to only use money they would use for fun and entertainment, not money that should be used to pay the mortgage or the rent or to pay for food,\u201d said Eshleman.<\/p>\n

Silver echoed this.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to know before you do it how much you can afford to lose,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is your \u2018tap out point?\u2019 Those rules have to be firmly established.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues <\/p>\n

Ways to limit online gambling<\/p>\n

Most sports betting platforms offer \u201cresponsible gambling tools,\u201d according to Eshleman.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can set limits on time, money, deposits, wins, and losses,\u201d she said. \u201cThe goal is to set those limits before you start, because if you don\u2019t set them in advance, they\u2019re not really going to work for you. Once you\u2019re into the excitement of it, you\u2019re not going to stop and use those tools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eshleman recommends apps such as GambBan and BetBlocker, which limit access to gambling sites externally. She also directs those who suspect they may have a problem to use the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline or contact Gamblers Anonymous.<\/p>\n

Know the risks and downsides<\/p>\n

Silver, the head of Investopedia, said he started adding definitions of online betting and gambling terms to the personal finance site when he saw an increasingly \u201ccloser connection between sports betting, day trading, options trading, and cryptocurrency trading.\u201d He encourages those who are interested in digital betting to make sure they know what they’re getting into.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore anyone even gets an online (gambling) account, they should be required to know the fundamental terms and rules about the way sports betting works,” he said. “What’s the \u2018money line\u2019 or \u2018parlay?\u2019 How do odds work? What is the maximum I could lose on this bet?\u201d<\/p>\n

The other thing to do is to \u201cplay with no expectation of a return,” he said. \u201cThe likelihood is that you will lose. So, if you’re willing to lose, how much are you willing to lose?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cory Fox, senior vice president of public policy and sustainability at FanDuel, who handles the site\u2019s responsible gambling initiatives, compares using the safeguards to wearing a seatbelt when driving in a car and said FanDuel is committed to setting standards for being a responsible operator in the online gambling space.<\/p>\n

Lori Kalani, chief responsible gaming officer at DraftKings, said the site is committed to the same goal and compared using the limit-setting tools to taking Ubers instead of driving on a night when you know you\u2019ll be drinking.<\/p>\n

Fox added that responsible gambling tools are important to help allow FanDuel to maintain its social license. He said that it\u2019s in the interest of the site to make sure its users can be on the site and play for a long time to come.<\/p>\n

Make sure it’s not a coping mechanism<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you’re taking care of your mental health, you\u2019re less likely to have a problem with gambling,\u201d Eshleman said.<\/p>\n

Rather than turning to the thrill of placing online bets, Eshleman encourages people to find positive ways to cope with stress<\/a> \u2014 listening to music, taking walks, getting more sleep and exercise, and spending more time socializing. Social gambling is safer than hidden, private gambling, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you’re doing it alone, that’s a red flag that it’s not an activity that’s healthy for you,\u201d said Eshleman. \u201cIt all ties in to our basic wellness. I think if people focus on wellness, it will prevent a lot of gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Online betting is more accessible than ever, with 14% of U.S. adults saying they…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":373984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[180150,180153,210,180151,517,125936,255,180152,1222,8930,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-373983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-caleb-silver","9":"tag-eshleman","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-heather-eshleman","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-online-betting","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-public-health-advocates","16":"tag-responsible-gambling","17":"tag-sports-betting","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115537816172078938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}