Amid growing concerns about gambling addiction among young males, online sports betting leaders are urging parents to discuss the issue with their children but are denying that they are responsible for the increase in teens placing wagers.
More than 42% of people between the ages of 13 and 17 reported gambling in the last year, according to a new survey from the Rutgers University Center for Gambling Studies. Among those who played, 10% were at high risk for problem gambling, the report stated.
Mental health professionals who specialize in addiction said they have seen far more teens needing help with a gambling issue.
Meanwhile, Jason Robins, the CEO of DraftKings, one of the largest online gambling companies, said on CNBC in late October that “every parent should have conversations with their kids about” gambling addiction.
While critics of the industry agree, they argue that by denying that the addiction is increasing and opposing legislation that aims to address the issue, leaders of companies like DraftKings are simply passing the buck to parents and avoiding blame for how their products have ruined lives.
“Parents should have healthy conversations with their kids about gambling and the risks and harms associated with it, but I also don’t think that excuses the gambling industry from making changes to help prevent underage gambling and put in more protections for vulnerable populations such as younger individuals,” said Matt Missar, a therapist in Pittsburgh who treats about 36 patients with gambling problems each month, half of whom started betting before they were of legal gambling age.
His client list used to feature a variety of ages; now most are under 25.
Since 2018, when the supreme court struck down a federal ban on sports betting, 39 states and Washington DC have legalized the activity. Operators’ revenues have soared. In 2025, the commercial sports betting industry generated more than $16.8bn in revenue – almost all from online bets – a 22% increase from 2024, according to the American Gaming Association.
Advertisements from sports books such as DraftKings and FanDuel and prediction market businesses such as Kalshi and Polymarket are now everywhere.
Industry leaders claim that they are just offering entertainment and making gambling safer by reducing the illegal sports betting that was happening before states legalized it.
But there is evidence – which the industry disputes – that legalization has in fact caused an increase in gambling addiction and financial ruin.
For example, a study published in June by Epic Research found that among states which legalized sports betting, the number of adults diagnosed with a gambling disorder increased by 61% between 2018 and 2026. States where it remained illegal saw a 29% decrease.
Joe Maloney, president of the Sports Betting Alliance, a sports books industry group that represents companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel, denied that the study reveals an increase in gambling addiction. The authors state that healthcare providers have become more aware of the diagnosis code for pathological gambling and thus “a real change in prevalence cannot be cleanly distinguished from a coding or recognition change”.
“That Epic study is not what you think it is. It’s something entirely different,” Maloney said. “Normalization and legalization is actually platforming problem gambling resources and even helping to expand the clinical capacity to help those that have problematic gambling disorder issues.”
The Rutgers study found that the most popular gambling activities among minors were scratch-off tickets, bingo, lottery tickets, raffle tickets and slots. Twenty per cent of the gamblers place bets on sports. Males were more than twice as likely as females to do so.
Asked about the findings, Maloney said: “It certainly was not surprising, given the video game environments and all of the online and digitized video gaming experiences that today’s teenagers are confronted with.”
A FanDuel spokesperson detailed the platform’s age-verification measures and highlighted that the study did not state whether respondents placed bets on regulated or unregulated platforms.
“That distinction matters because regulated sports books are required to verify customers’ ages and identities before allowing them to play, while unlicensed platforms lack those safeguards,” the spokesperson stated in an email. “FanDuel also works to help adults talk with teens about the risks of gambling.”
Dr Shawn Kelly, a pediatrician who specializes in adolescent addiction, thinks that putting the onus on parents is “offloading responsibility from companies that are making incredible amounts of money”.
A few years ago, when Kelly asked his patients during consultations if they gambled, almost no one said yes. Now, about a third of his male patients have gambling problems, he said.
“It’s more frightening to have a patient who endorses gambling than truly any of the other substance-use disorders,” said Kelly, who practices in Ottowa, the capital city of Canada, which has also legalized sports betting. “If somebody comes in with opioid-use disorder … I have a body of research and an evidence base on which to offer them treatment.”
“When it comes to gambling disorders, we don’t have nearly as good of options,” Kelly added.
In September 2025, Kim Freudenberg, whose son became addicted to gambling, formed Parents Standing Together, a non-profit that gives support to other parents facing the same challenge.
The group now has about 400 participants, including Andrea Bacon, whose sons, now in their 20s, have both gambled. Her younger son started betting through offshore bookmakers as a child.
(The Guardian agreed not to use her sons’ names.)
When her son went to college, “it really got out of control”, said Bacon, who lives in Los Angeles. He primarily bet through PrizePicks.
As he was losing thousands of dollars, PrizePicks gave him the VIP treatment: a round of golf at the Trump National golf club in Los Angeles.
Bacon and her husband did not understand the gravity of the situation until their son confessed.
“He was living in the fraternity house, and he said, ‘I have barely left my room all semester, like I’m just sitting, gambling,’” said Bacon, who declined to share exactly how much her son lost but said it was in the six figures.
Meanwhile, her older son does significant analysis and has won about $300,000. He said the amount he could wager then was restricted by PrizePicks and other major online gambling companies, which have also allegedly offered perks to customers who lost millions.
PrizePicks did not respond to requests for comment.
“These companies’ algorithms were sophisticated enough to identify and limit a winner within months. That same technology could identify a problem gambler as easily. They just weren’t willing to,” Bacon said during a September event at a Senate office building.
She spoke with lawmakers to advocate for the Safe Bet Act, which would prohibit gambling operators from marketing during sports broadcasts and from accepting more than five deposits from an individual within 24 hours and deposits from credit cards.
Maloney, of the Sports Betting Alliance, argued that advertising is “critically important to enable people to understand that there is a legal option for” sports betting.
Asked for his position on the Safe Bet legislation, Maloney deferred to an emailed statement.
“Legal sports betting generates billions in state tax revenue and protects consumers from illegal bookies and offshore sites. In the years since the supreme court overturned the federal ban on states permitting legal, regulated wagering, states and their regulators have built thoughtful, evolving frameworks. Heavy-handed federal prohibitions like the Safe Bet Act would override that work and push bettors back to predatory and pervasive illegal and unregulated markets,” he wrote.
Sports betting generates an average of 0.2% of state tax revenue in states that legalized it, which is about the same as the amount generated from licensing motor-vehicle operators, according to a report from the Manhattan Institute, a right-leaning thinktank
Unlike drivers’ licenses, gambling can cause people to lose millions. A study from Brigham Young University published earlier this year found that those who deposit money in more than half the months after their initial deposit – frequent bettors – have lower income, save less money and carry higher credit card balances than people who bet infrequently or not at all.
States that allowed online access to gambling also experienced a 10% increase in bankruptcy likelihood and an 8% increase in debt collection amounts about two years after it became legal, according to a study from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Bacon’s son spent 100 days in a treatment facility. He has not placed bets in 10 months and has enrolled in a junior college, where he plays baseball and lives in a dorm with other players.
“They are all gambling, so it’s been a little hard,” Bacon said.
Despite her younger son’s struggles, Bacon recognizes that her older son made money from sports betting. She is not trying to shut down the industry.
“We need stronger laws protecting people at any age, but especially these young guys whose brains are not fully developed,” she said. The gaming operators are “taking advantage and preying on young kids, and you can’t even watch a sports event without an ad”.
