The proliferation of sports betting across the country over the last 16 months has prompted the first-ever national study on its impact on problem gambling.
On Thursday, the American Gaming Association announced a $100,000 contribution to the National Center for Responsible Gaming’s new fund, which has raised about $400,000 to support research on sports wagering in light of the activity’s national expansion since the Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on sports betting in May 2018. Twelve states have added sports betting since the Court’s decision, and bills have passed in five other states and the District of Columbia.
The AGA made the announcement as part of the annual Responsible Gaming Education Week in which it hosted a panel discussion moderated by Sandra Douglass Morgan, chairwoman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, on the campus of UNLV.
MGM Resorts International has joined AGA as a founding donor to the fund, and AGA members William Hill US, GVC Holdings PLC, IGT and Hard Rock International have also made significant contributions to the fund, in addition to NASCAR. Each had representatives speak at Thursday’s panel discussion.
Elizabeth Cronan, senior director of gaming policy for the AGA, said their research ahead of football season showed that 7 million Americans will bet legally at a sports book this year, 1.2 million more than last year. More than $10 billion has been legally wagered on sports since May 2018, she said.
NCRG executive director Russell Sanna said the study will commence in six to nine months and should take up to three years to see results. Some interim findings will be released along the way, especially with information shared by casino operators.
“Imagine you are a state legislator and have to approve sports betting without knowing what the impact will be,” Sanna said. “It’s important we guide the decision-making process with knowledge.”
Based on the expansion of casinos across the country in the U.S., current research shows that problem gambling has stayed within that one-to-two percent threshold, Sanna said.
“We’re anticipating that, but this is a different form of wagering going on,” Sanna said. “You go to a casino and play a table game or pull a handle. Sports wagering ranges from a guy on his phone in his apartment to someone tailgating. There’s an emotional component to sports wagering that we don’t understand culturally.”
Lessons can’t be taken from Nevada, he said, because people from out of state who go there to bet on sports then return home.
“We’ve had a multi-billion-dollar illegal sports betting industry for a long time, and that prevalence rate of gambling disorder is something we’re not seeing as an epidemic,” Sanna said. “With it legalized we are now able to see what the numbers actually are. We hypothesize that it’s going to (stay within) that 1 to 2 percent, but it’s a new product and we have to fully understand it and be open.”
Tammi Barlow, head of Responsible Gaming at William Hill US, and Paul Pellizzari, vice president of Global Social Responsibility at the Hard Rock International, both said they look forward to the research so it can be applied to their responsible gaming programs.
IGT Corporate Social Responsibility Manager Jade Luchauer told the panel that mobile apps, for example, could be more personalized in the future, introducing self-control measures allowing users to set limits and parameters.
Virginia McDowell, independent non-executive director with GVC Holdings, said they are launching an algorithm in Europe to examine customer play and determine who is at risk.
Alan Feldman, a distinguished fellow at the UNLV International Gaming Institute, said sports betting should be viewed differently than traditional casino gambling because it’s ingrained in American society.
“The question is, how does it change when it becomes open and prevalent,” he said.
Feldman said there needs to be a greater awareness about responsible gambling in the sports media. He said they’re encouraging “all kinds of bad behavior,” such as when someone on talk radio says “bet the house” on a team.
“We have to figure out how the event announcers (should) handle this,” Feldman asked. “This is legal activity now. It wouldn’t be crazy for the announcer to say that, if the team with six points kicks that field goal, the other team won’t cover. Does that encourage gambling? Is that the right thing to do?
“I’m not saying that’s bad,” Feldman said. “I just want to know what kind of impact that will have.”
Scott Warfield, managing director of gaming for NASCAR, said live betting during races will provide new opportunities for fans, but that the company wants research done on potential harm.
“This is a brave new world for a lot of us in the sports world,” he said. “We’re hopeful this is one of the components of a pretty methodical approach in the five, 10, 15 years to come.”
