Monthly Betting Is Dangerous, Study Suggests
A big question related to problem sports betting is how addiction risks are affected by the frequency of gambling. Findings from the University of Massachusetts Amherst released in August 2024 might shed some light on this topic.
According to research using online survey panels, UMass Amherst found that people in the state who gamble once or more per month are at a significantly elevated risk of developing a gambling problem.
A quarter of monthly gamblers were starting to develop problems (classified as “at-risk” gamblers), while 25.6% of monthly gamblers were suffering from full-blown gambling addiction.
So, more than half of monthly gamblers (which would also include weekly and daily gamblers) have problems—meaning they should abstain from gambling entirely.
While weekly and daily gamblers are obviously at a higher risk than a once-a-month gambler, the study suggests that monthly gambling could be a dangerous threshold that people should be wary of crossing.
This data was for gambling broadly. According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, the rate of problems among sports bettors is at least twice as high as among gamblers in general. About 30-40% of online sports bettors have problems.
Thus, far more than 50% of online sports bettors who bet at least once a month are expected to suffer problems. The online sports bettors who don’t develop problems are mostly people who bet on sports just a couple times a year (about 12% of all sports bettors).
For example, someone who makes a Super Bowl bet and/or risks money on a March Madness bracket—and doesn’t sports gamble at other times during the year—is much more likely to be protected from developing gambling problems. Of course, those popular betting events are entry points for many problem gamblers.
Bottom line: If you want to keep sports betting as a harmless activity, consider wagering less frequently than once per month. If you have trouble keeping your betting to once a month, you should consider abstaining from the activity.
Image by Amanda Randolph from Pixabay.