A Johns Hopkins University study has found that adults in states that legalised online sports betting received more treatment for depression and anxiety after those laws took effect, though the research cannot establish that betting caused the changes.
The analysis, published in JAMA Psychiatry on Oct. 14, examined health-insurance records from 2016 through 2023. As reported by U.S. News & World Report, the researchers compared states with legalised sports betting against those without it, focusing on adults aged 18 to 64 covered by employer-sponsored insurance.
After online betting was legalised, prescriptions for antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication rose by roughly 5%. Outpatient diagnoses of depression and anxiety increased by about 5% to 7%.
The authors cautioned that the observational findings show an association rather than proof of causation. Even so, they warned that higher use of mental-health treatment linked with legalisation could add pressure to the mental-health system.
Online sports betting is legal in 31 states and Washington, D.C. Separately, as we reported in September, an observational Ontario study found that emergency-department visits recording gambling disorder nearly doubled after changes to betting laws and the province’s online gambling market.
Danielle Piatkowsky, a licensed social worker at Northwell Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, who was not involved in the Johns Hopkins research, said problem gambling can affect family and social relationships as well as performance at work or school. She described it as a public-health issue and urged people struggling with gambling addiction to seek professional help.
The findings sit alongside earlier evidence reviewed by the National Council on Problem Gambling. Its review of more than 140 studies and reports concluded that gambling problems may grow as sports wagering and mobile betting opportunities expand. It found that sports bettors experience gambling problems at least twice as often as gamblers generally, while online sports bettors have an even higher rate.
The council’s review called for prevention and treatment efforts targeted at people most vulnerable to addiction through sports gambling.
