Sacred Heart forum raises concerns about impact of sports gambling on young adults
FAIRFIELD, Connecticut (WABC) -- A discussion at Sacred Heart University on Tuesday examined the growing impact of sports gambling on young adults, as new polling from the school showed many 18- to 34-year-olds reporting negative effects tied to betting.
The university released findings from a nationwide poll examining gambling behaviors among young adults.
"We had, you know, almost 37% say that they, sports gambling had some sort of negative impact on their personal relationships. And 45%, if they were not personally impacted, said that they knew somebody who was negatively impacted by sports gambling," said Seamus McNamee of GreatBlue Research.
The discussion comes amid a series of national gambling scandals involving former and current athletes.
Last week, college quarterback Brendan Sorsby entered treatment for gambling addiction. Betting advertisements also continue to appear widely, emphasizing how easily wagers can be placed on smartphones.
ABC stations across the country recently investigated the link between youth gambling addiction and betting apps.
Students at the event described how betting can become intertwined with watching sports.
"I'm looking at the game and I would look at my phone like, just to keep track as to even if this player has a certain amount of points or, oh what's the spread that I have again," said student Stephen Coffey.
Jeff LaBella, director of counseling at Sacred Heart, said the university has added gambling-related questions to its mental health screenings because students often wait too long to seek help.
"It's one of the highest addictive disorders that have, sort of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. And so we see that we screen for that, we ask for that. We really want to make sure we can get ahead of it if that's the case," he said.
Industry representatives maintain they enforce strict age restrictions.
"Our companies continue to communicate one that this is an entertainment exercise and not a wealth creation exercise, an adult entertainment product for adults only," said Joe Maloney of the Sports Betting Alliance.
But Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut argued that young people remain vulnerable.
"Micro bets, prop bets. They know what they're doing, but often young people don't realize how vulnerable they can be in effect, betting against the house. The house wins," he said.
Blumenthal is sponsoring several bills that would limit advertising during games, restrict prop bets and apply sportsbetting rules to prediction markets. He said strong industry lobbying makes passage unlikely.
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