Sharp Rise In Online Sports Betting Compared To A “Ticking Time Bomb”

• Rich Caesar
• May 18, 2021

One of the effects of the coronavirus was a sharp increase in real money online gambling. This includes legal sports betting across a number of US markets. Presently, there are 22 states plus the District of Columbia offering legal online sports betting in some form. In 15 of those states, it is legal to wager online through a mobile sportsbook app.

The biggest books in the US market are:

• FanDuel
• DraftKings
• BetMGM

These three gaming companies account for 80% of the current market share. Along with legal online sports betting, five states offer legal casino gambling as well. At the present time, more than a few states are going through the legislative process to join this list.

Given the rapid growth of online gambling the past year, industry concerns with problem gambling have increased as well. Easier access to online betting sites offers too much temptation with a large percentage of the population.
New Jersey has quickly grown into the biggest sports betting market in the US. More than 90% of this state’s monthly betting handle is through mobile bets.

Providentially, online sports betting is happening away.

There are numerous examples of problem gambling rising as the market expands. The US is in the midst of its largest expansion of legal gambling. This is also taking place at the fastest rate ever. States are looking for ways to quickly fill the gaps in lost tax revenue caused by the pandemic. Legal online gambling is an easy way to fill the void.

While online gambling in on the rise, effective ways to combat problem gambling have not kept pace.

US residents are spending more and more money on online sports betting than they did a decade ago.

Keith Whyte is the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. He recently voiced his concerns in the following quote:
“It’s this ticking time bomb. We have to take action now, but the problem is almost impossible to quantify.”

He also noted the lack of tracking and treating people with gambling problems. This exists on both the state and federal level. Neither have allocated the necessary resources to effectively combat this issue.

FanDuel and DraftKings have spent millions of dollars in advertising. They have also embarked on numerous sponsorship deals with professional sports leagues and individual teams. Where legal, both books have created a prominent presence in the marketplace.

Both companies offer features designed to stem problem gambling. Players have the ability to self-police their online gambling activities. These features include deposit and betting limits. Players can also restrict their online play. Problem gamblers even have the ability to place themselves on self-exclusion lists.

Most of the money is still wagered on sports events and other contests in brick-and-mortar casinos.

However, certain industry experts remained concerned over the effectiveness of self-policing policies. The race for market share among heated competition may be more important to a sportsbook’s bottom line. Whyte went on to add:

“The operators have enormous amounts of information and enormous power. And they have very little obligation to be transparent about how they make these decisions.”

Online Sports betting companies are counted on to regulate themselves as it pertains to promoting responsible gambling practices.