University of Nevada, Las Vegas researchers have found early signs of serious gambling problems among Colorado sports bettors in a study that is still being completed. At its halfway point, 7% of the respondents who said they gambled reported serious problems, while problem gambling was 2 percentage points higher among women.
The project, funded earlier this year by Colorado’s Problem Gambling Coalition, sampled 500 randomly selected Coloradans, including people who gamble and those who do not, according to KKTV. Four percent of the full sample reported gambling. Researchers collected information on gambling histories, the types of gambling undertaken and participants’ exposure to sports betting.
The study is intended to establish who bets, why they do so, how much they wager and how advertising shapes their behaviour. Shane Kraus, the UNLV psychology professor leading the work on gambling advertising and messaging, said the research would examine promotional terms including “risk-free betting,” “free money” and “free play.” He described risk-free betting as “no such thing.”
The preliminary results are not final. Kraus said data collection will continue until after the Super Bowl, when the researchers plan to release their final findings. The team has also completed research into wagering during the World Cup and presented data on changes in the sports-gambling landscape.
The Colorado work is designed in part to inform whether the language and methods gambling companies use to reach consumers should face regulation. Joe Maloney, president of the Sports Betting Alliance, said Colorado voters in 2019 chose a regulated sports-wagering market with consumer-protection, responsibility and integrity commitments.
The focus on advertising reflects a broader research gap. A Massachusetts Gaming Commission report found relatively few studies examining the relationship between gambling advertising and behaviour that may increase harm, while warning that online panels cannot be generalized to the wider population because they tend to include large proportions of regular gamblers.
That report recorded a sharp rise in sportsbook marketing spending: national television expenditure rose from $21.4 million in 2019 to $314.6 million in 2022. It said gambling marketing tends to emphasize positive experiences and greatly outstrips advertising about risks or problem-gambling help, while digital targeting may create particular risks for vulnerable groups.
A systematic review of 65 articles likewise found sports betting associated with elevated levels of problem gambling. It concluded that advertising can lower perceptions of gambling risk and increase bettors’ sense of control.
As we covered in July, separate research published in the Journal of Financial Economics linked legal online sports betting with weaker household finances, particularly among frequent bettors and lower-savings households.
