As sports betting grows, so does concern about problem gambling in young adults

As the sports betting industry rapidly expands across the country, addiction specialists and public health advocates in Maine are sounding the alarm about a new generation of young people who have grown up with gambling woven into nearly every corner of sports culture — and the risks that come with it.

When Atticus Smith started college at the University of Maine, a roommate introduced him to Fliff, a sports prediction app that lets users wager on games using virtual currency rather than real cash. Smith, now 24, was drawn to the thrill of picking winners and losers on Ultimate Fighting Championship fights. The money wasn't real, but the feeling was.

"It makes me feel like I can actually play along with the guys who are actually putting down bets," Smith said. "I genuinely have fun doing it, even though I know what I'm doing doesn't have any real currency to it."

Fliff offered an option to convert to real-money wagering, and Smith said the temptation was real. He knows friends who crossed that line — including one with a history of gambling problems whom he and others had to pull aside.

"With Apple wallet and your cards being right on your phone, the temptation is definitely there," he said. "You can just press a couple of buttons."

Smith's experience reflects a broader shift in how gambling is perceived and accessed. Thirty-eight states, including Maine, now allow mobile sports betting, the most popular form of wagering in the country. Major platforms like DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics and Caesars have poured money into advertising, plastered their logos across professional sports venues, and integrated betting talk into broadcasts on networks such as ESPN.

The result, recovery advocates say, is an environment in which gambling has become thoroughly normalized — particularly for young people who have never known a world without it.

A 'tsunami' warning

Jay P., a New Hampshire resident who attends and hosts anonymous gambling support meetings in Maine and Massachusetts, said the change has been dramatic. He asked not to use his full name because of the sensitive nature of his involvement with the meetings.

"Back in the day when I used to bet with a sportsbook, it was something you didn't talk about, you know? That was a dirty thing," he said. "Now you can go on DraftKings, you can go on FanDuel, you can go on BetMGM, all these different sites, Fanatics and Wager. It's literally glamorized."

Jay P. said he believes the country is on the cusp of a public health crisis tied to sports gambling that will rival the opioid epidemic. He recalled a recent meeting at which a police officer warned attendees of an impending "tsunami."

"It is the next epidemic that most people are unaware of," Jay P. said. "I think it is going to dwarf the opioid epidemic."

A generational shift

Concerns are especially focused on teenagers and young adults, who have come of age as sports betting has exploded into the mainstream.

Colin Campbell, who recently finished his senior season on the Bowdoin College men's lacrosse team, said gambling rarely came up among his college teammates but is a regular topic among friends back home.

"They're big into sports betting. They talk about it frequently," Campbell said, estimating his friends place bets about once a week.

Madison Weeks, a senior at Bonny Eagle High School in Standish, has heard similar chatter. Maine's two licensed mobile sportsbooks, DraftKings and Caesars, require bettors to be at least 21. But prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, along with less-regulated apps, allow users who are 18. Most sportsbooks verify ages through automated systems that require Social Security numbers or photo IDs.

"Mostly just classmates within the school that are turning 18, they're getting that freedom, and I do hear them talking about that," Weeks said. "They're just talking about the games that are upcoming, and they're like, 'What can I put into this?'"

Quantifying the scope of the problem in Maine has proven difficult. The Maine Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state's Gambling Control Unit, does not track gambling activity by age. Lori Manson, who works with ADEPT Maine — an Augusta nonprofit that administers the state's problem gambling services — said demographic data on bettors is similarly unavailable.

Some national research has begun filling in the picture. A September 2024 Fairleigh Dickinson University survey found that 26 percent of men under 45 reported betting on sports. A Harris Poll conducted earlier this year and released by the National Council on Problem Gambling found that 33 percent of respondents between the ages of 21 and 44 had placed a wager before turning 21, the legal gambling age in most states.

"Youth are at significantly greater risk for developing gambling problems," NCPG Executive Director Heather Maurer said in a news release announcing the results. "And as gambling becomes increasingly normalized in media, sports, and online spaces, the risks grow."

'They look at it as investing'

Manson said one of the most striking changes is how the current generation views gambling itself. Older generations often considered it taboo or even shameful. Younger people, surrounded by social media influencers who flaunt their wins and parlays, see it as something closer to savvy financial strategy.

"When I was growing up, a lot of people considered gambling to be a moral failing," Manson said. "With this generation, there are social media influencers and people that are really proud of their gambling. They look at it as investing."

That mindset has reshaped the population seeking treatment. Liz Thielen, senior director of substance abuse treatment services at Nicasa Behavioral Health Services, said the clients reaching out for help have grown steadily younger.

"It was typically 40-, 50-, 60-year-olds reaching out for help with casino gambling, video slot poker, the lottery," Thielen said. "It's trended younger and younger. Most calls are related to young adults, emerging adults, males doing online sports betting and sometimes day trading."

Thielen said young bettors often believe their deep familiarity with sports gives them a meaningful edge. Many build elaborate spreadsheets and tracking systems to analyze matchups and player performance, convinced that their research translates into consistent profits.

"They're becoming parents, they've got a stable job," Thielen said. "They kind of see this as a way to make quick money. Many of them have spreadsheets and very sophisticated systems for organizing all the knowledge that they have. And there's a serious misconception about how much value that has for a sports bettor."

Younger people also tend to be more impulsive, a trait that can compound financial risk. Thielen compared early exposure to gambling to giving an adolescent access to alcohol.

"Just like you wouldn't give your 12-, 15-year-old, 16-year-old liquor, early access to gambling does predispose young brains to the addictive properties," she said. "There's just that understanding like there is for alcohol and substances."

College athletics respond

Recent scandals have heightened concern on college campuses. Since the start of 2024, three Fresno State basketball players, an Abilene Christian basketball player and a former Indiana quarterback have been found to have placed bets on games involving their own teams.

At the University of Maine, Michelle Simpson, associate athletic director for student success and a former field hockey player, brought Thielen to campus in late March to speak with Black Bear athletes about the dangers of sports betting — both the risk of addiction and the disciplinary consequences of mixing wagering with collegiate competition.

"We saw those national news stories about … it growing in popularity, and we're bombarded with it every single day now on our phones and TV," Simpson said. "We just felt as though it was good timing to try to get ahead of it and provide some education."

John Sutyak, athletic director at the University of Southern Maine, said conversations with student-athletes about gambling have expanded significantly.

"If you had asked me what I was doing five, 10 years ago when we had mentioned it, it would just be a quick, 20-second 'Hey, don't do this,'" Sutyak said. "And back then, it was illegal. Now it's legal."

Still, Manson said Maine's colleges have been slow to embrace gambling education. She said she has offered webinars on the issue for college staff and has seen little turnout.

The reluctance may extend to students themselves. Maine maintains a self-exclusion list that allows gamblers to formally request restrictions on their betting activity. Of the 48 people on the list for sports betting, just 13 were under 30 when they enrolled, according to an anonymized list provided by the Department of Public Safety.

"Perhaps it's because that's something that's less appealing to that demographic than it is to the older people … who start to feel like 'I'm going to lose my kids if I don't get this under control,'" Manson said. "That's something that usually a younger person doesn't need to worry about."

Thielen said recovery and outreach services will need to evolve if they hope to reach younger bettors before problems spiral. Traditional messaging centered on addiction and recovery may not resonate with people who do not yet see themselves as having a problem.

"It can't be all about addiction and problem and recovery," she said. "If I just started sports betting seven months ago, and you're coming at me with language that doesn't resonate with me, I'm not even going to hear it."

If you or someone you know is struggling with a gambling addiction, call 211 or 1-800-MYRESET. To learn more about services available in Maine, visit adeptme.org/problem-gambling.