Online sports betting is eating up the savings of millions of gamblers at an alarming rate: study
Online sports betting is costing millions of gamblers big time — with one in nine bettors spending half of their quarterly retirement savings on gambling, according to a shocking new study.Researchers found that around 11% of online sports bettors are problem gamblers — and they are more likely to be from lower income households, according to a study of financial transaction data from 184,000 homes.More than one-quarter of Americans say they have an account with an online sports book such as DraftKings or FanDuel — meaning the pool of gamblers who bet too much is massive.“I think we will look back and shake our heads a bit and wonder at how we were willing to just open the floodgates,” said study co-author Jason Kotter of the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University.Researchers found that problem gamblers spend 5% or more of their monthly income on sports betting — and that’s on top of existing spending on entertainment or other forms of gambling such as lotto tickets.Even more troubling, the data found an apparent negative correlation between money being spent on sports betting and dough going into 401K or other investment accounts — indicating problem gamblers appear to be treating betting as an alternative to saving for the future.“After legalization, frequent bettors cut their deposits to brokerage accounts by about $220 per quarter,” Kotter said.“Before legalization, the average quarterly investment was about $400, so this represents a roughly 50% cut in their brokerage investments,” he said.Since the US Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports gambling in 2018, the betting market in America has exploded, with wagers increasing 190%, from $57.6 billion to $167 billion, between 2021 and 2025, according to figures from Track360.Online and mobile betting are now legal in 30 states plus Washington, DC, while a further nine states allow sports gambling in physical locations such as casinos and tribal gaming venues.Pro...