{"id":918573,"date":"2026-10-06T20:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T20:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/918573\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T20:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T20:24:10","slug":"study-online-sports-betting-causes-spike-in-er-visits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/918573\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: Online Sports Betting Causes Spike in ER Visits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legalization of sports betting in Ontario, Canada was linked to a rise in severe gambling-related health problems. That\u2019s the conclusion of a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. <\/p>\n

\"\"An ambulance is shown parked at the ER entrance to North York General Hospital in Toronto, Canada. (Image: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

Conducted by public health researchers at the University of Toronto covering January 2012 to June 2025, the study found that emergency-room visits for gambling disorders increased steadily\u2014about 7% per quarter\u2014eventually reaching 99% above expected levels by mid-2025. The increase built slowly, continued through the end of the study period, and was concentrated in males ages 10 to 44.<\/p>\n

Researchers compared the number of ER visits they observed with the number that would have been expected had online gambling had not been legalized. By April-June 2025, visits were 99% higher overall, 154% higher for males ages 10\u201329, and 116% higher for males ages 30\u201344. And these cases weren\u2019t mild; nearly one\u2011third of these ER visits resulted in hospitalization.<\/p>\n

Online Gambling \u2018An Accelerant\u2019<\/p>\n

More than 70% of the visits involved another mental health condition or heavy substance use, with gambling disorder listed as the main or a contributing reason. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis rise in severe presentations might be a bit of a warning signal of a wider increase in harms across the general population,\u201d said study co\u2011author Ryan Forrest, a public\u2011health doctoral student at the University of Toronto, in an interview with Time magazine.<\/a> He noted that ER data only shows the most extreme cases, and doesn\u2019t capture financial problems, relationship strain, or worsening mental health that may also be happening.<\/p>\n

A companion study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found parallel increases in contacts to ConnexOntario, the province\u2019s 24\u2011hour mental\u2011health and addictions helpline. Gambling-related contacts doubled overall after April 2022. The biggest increases were among males ages 15\u201344\u2014the demographic most aggressively targeted by online sportsbooks and casino apps\u2014including a 317% rise among those ages 15\u201324.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s two data sources telling us there is a real health signal happening here,\u201d Forrest said.<\/p>\n

Bad Bet?<\/p>\n

The April 2022 launch of Ontario\u2019s regulated private online gambling market followed Canada\u2019s August 2021 federal change that allowed provinces to legalize single\u2011event sports betting. The shift triggered rapid expansion of online gambling platforms, aggressive advertising, and nonstop promotions\u2014including \u201crisk\u2011free\u201d bets that critics say are anything but.<\/p>\n

The findings arrive as a warning for the U.S. Since the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on state\u2011authorized sports wagering in 2018, more than 30 states\u2014including New Jersey, Tennessee, New York, Pennsylvania, and Arizona\u2014have legalized sports betting. Many also allow online casino gambling, creating a 24\/7 pipeline of high\u2011speed wagering accessible from any smartphone.<\/p>\n

Public\u2011health experts have long cautioned that online gambling carries unique risks: constant access, rapid betting cycles, targeted marketing, and the ability to wager anonymously. Ontario\u2019s data now offers some of the clearest evidence yet that legalization can produce immediate, measurable spikes in severe gambling\u2011related harm.<\/p>\n

Forrest and his colleagues say the findings should prompt regulators to consider stronger guardrails\u2014including advertising limits, mandatory spending caps, and better integration between gambling platforms and mental\u2011health services.<\/p>\n

Emergency rooms, they warn, are only the beginning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legalization of sports betting in Ontario, Canada was linked to a rise in severe gambling-related health problems. That\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[486642,486643,64,63,486644,486645,1675,324966,486646,486647,137,514,34245,515,486648,241532,486649,18291,486650,486651,486652,486653,486654,486655,486656],"class_list":["post-918573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-addiction-medicine","tag-american-journal-of-preventive-medicine","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-connexontario","tag-emergency-room-visits","tag-gambling-addiction","tag-gambling-disorder","tag-gambling-helpline-surge","tag-gambling-public-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-crisis","tag-mentalhealth","tag-online-casino-harm","tag-online-sports-betting","tag-ontario-sports-betting","tag-problem-gambling","tag-single-event-betting","tag-sports-betting-advertising","tag-sports-betting-guardrails","tag-sports-gambling-study","tag-sports-wagering-legalization","tag-university-of-toronto-study","tag-young-men-health-risks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}