{"id":418569,"date":"2026-04-26T14:57:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/418569\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T14:57:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:57:18","slug":"us-gambling-addiction-is-out-of-control-and-requires-a-public-health-response-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/418569\/","title":{"rendered":"US gambling addiction is \u2018out of control\u2019 and requires a public health response, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gambling addiction in the U.S. is becoming a fully fledged crisis<\/a> and \u201cdemands a public health response,\u201d activists have warned. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the evidence everywhere,\u201d Harry Levant, director of gambling policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute, told The Guardian.<\/a> \u201cThe harm that is taking place to people, young men, families<\/a>, people of all ages, it is simply out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levant notes the rapid expansion of online gambling markets and other platforms, including wager sites such as Polymarket and Kalshi<\/a>, which have increased significantly in popularity in recent months.<\/p>\n

Last year, a study<\/a> by Siena College Research Institute and St. Bonaventure University\u2019s Jandoli School of Communication found that 48 percent of men aged 18 to 49 had an account with at least one sports betting platform.<\/p>\n

Levant told the outlet that gambling should be treated like other addictive things, such as alcohol or drugs.<\/p>\n

\"GamblingGambling addiction in the U.S. is becoming a fully fledged crisis and \u2018demands a public health response,\u2019 activists have warned (AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou regulate the distribution, the speed, the type, the access to the product, because the product is what\u2019s dangerous,\u201d he said. \u201cThe problem is the product, not the people. We have a crisis here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Global experts in gambling addiction gathered in Boston on Friday for a conference intending to highlight the problems of and push for better regulation of the industry. <\/p>\n

However, Levant insisted that \u201cthis is not an anti-gambling conference\u201d and that it was \u201ca pro-public health symposium with real solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThere\u2019s a need to demonstrate \u2013 both to the people of America, and the political leaders in America \u2013 that there is a problem. <\/p>\n

\"SitesSites such as Polymarket and Kalshi, where users can bet on everything including global geopolitical events, have increased significantly in popularity in recent months (Reuters)<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we know what the cause of the problem is: the cause of the problem is the unregulated nature of a dangerously and effectively designed online gambling product.\u201d<\/p>\n

The significant shift in online gambling has been observed since the lifting of a federal sports betting ban by the Supreme Court in 2018. Sports betting has since been legalized in 39 states, as well as Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

More recently, the use of prediction market sites \u2013 where users can bet on everything, including global geopolitical events \u2013 has also exploded, driven in part by Donald Trump\u2019s involvement overseas. More than $1 billion was traded on Kalshi during Super Bowl Sunday, according to The Guardian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,61,60,410,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-418569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}