A University of Mississippi-led study of students at Mississippi’s public universities found that gambling problems often appeared alongside depression, anxiety and substance use among college students.
The research surveyed more than 1,800 students across the state’s eight public universities and found that nearly one in four had gambled, while 7% showed signs of a gambling problem.
Nicholas McAfee, director of the William Magee Center for AOD and Wellness Education and the study’s lead author, said the students were struggling across the board. He said almost every student in the sample reported some increased level of mental health concern, and that students who tended to gamble more were also more likely to report greater problems.
The study found a connection between gambling, mental health and substance use, and future studies will need to clarify the relationship. McAfee said the answer is not as simple as one issue causing another, and Rory Pfund, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, said the study is a starting point for understanding whether there is a causal relationship.
Pfund said the policy response in Mississippi appears thin. He said there are not many, if any, resources in the state dedicated specifically to gambling, and hoped the findings would prompt a mechanism for dedicated funding both on and off campus.
McAfee said a lot has changed since the study began, but what has not changed is access to evidence-based care and treatment or intervention strategies. He argued that colleges, parents, legislators and mental health officials should treat gambling problems as one more warning sign that a student may need support.
The researchers said the survey was conducted in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many casinos were closed. Since then, access to gambling has increased, with sports betting now legal in 38 states and online betting allowed in 30 of them. The article also noted that prediction markets now let people place wagers on future events at any time using a cellphone.
A Sept. 22, 2025 story from Ole Miss also described a separate study of students from seven Mississippi universities that found 39% had gambled in the past year, and that 6% of sports bettors met criteria for problem gambling. That earlier work also found gambling was more common among male, white, off-campus, students who participated in sports and Greek-life students, and recommended education, screening and treatment on campuses.
