\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/43639414_20260612_Sports-Betting_1.jpg\")
\t\t\tLori Manson, of ADEPT Maine, an Augusta nonprofit that administers problem gambling services in the state, says gambling is seen as more acceptable these days, which makes it dangerous for people growing up now. (Daryn Slover\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
For Atticus Smith, the money wasn\u2019t real. But the rush was.<\/p>\n
He was a freshman at the University of Maine when he was introduced by his roommate to Fliff, a sports prediction app. He used it to follow and place bets on Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts using in-app currency, as opposed to putting his own, real money on the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that risk and reward feeling,\u201d said Smith, now 24. \u201cIt makes me feel like I can actually play along with the guys who are actually putting down bets. \u2026 I genuinely have fun doing it, even though I know what I\u2019m doing doesn\u2019t have any real currency to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fliff had an option to put in real cash. Smith was tempted, but never took it. He knows many who have, and he understands the pull.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do have a friend we had to sit down and talk with to be like, \u2018Don\u2019t get into this,\u2019 because he has had a history of gambling issues,\u201d he said. \u201cWith Apple wallet and your cards being right on your phone, the temptation is definitely there. You can just press a couple of buttons.\u201d<\/p>\n
As more and more states legalize sports betting \u2014 38 states, including Maine, allow mobile betting, the most popular form \u2014 the potential for problem gambling has drawn the alarm of the support and recovery community, with people calling attention to sports gambling\u2019s addictive nature, its unrelenting advertising and its prevalence in society.<\/p>\n
Most of their concern has become centered on young adults, the teenagers and 20-somethings growing up with it all being way more accessible, marketed and popular than it\u2019s ever been before.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the next epidemic that most people are unaware of. I think it\u2019s going to dwarf the opioid epidemic,\u201d said Jay P., a New Hampshire resident who attends and hosts anonymous gambling support meetings in Maine and Massachusetts. He asked not to use his full name out of privacy concerns. He said a police officer came to a meeting recently warning of a coming \u201ctsunami.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in the day when I used to bet with a sportsbook, it was something you didn\u2019t talk about, you know? That was a dirty thing,\u201d Jay P. said. \u201cNow you can go on DraftKings, you can go on FanDuel, you can go on BetMGM, all these different sites, Fanatics and Wager. It\u2019s literally glamorized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up in Maine, Smith said he\u2019s seen the same thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt comes up in really basic conversation, too. \u2018Oh, did you watch the game last night?\u2019 \u2018Yeah, I missed my parlay,’\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t really find a sports-based conversation that doesn\u2019t involve some comment on winning or losing a bet.\u201d<\/p>\n
TRENDING YOUNG<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to get a definitive sense of how widespread and prevalent sports betting is among young adults in Maine.<\/p>\n
Data breaking down the ages of bettors is not available, said Lori Manson of ADEPT Maine, an Augusta nonprofit that administers problem gambling services in the state, including free counseling, no-cost financial counseling and self-exclusion services. <\/p>\n
The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Gambling Control Unit, also said it doesn\u2019t track gambling activity by age.<\/p>\n
Some national data, however, has emerged indicating sports gambling\u2019s increasing influence on young adults. In September 2024, Fairleigh Dickinson University released a survey<\/a> in which 26% of men under age 45 said they bet on sports.<\/p>\n This March, a survey from The Harris Poll<\/a> found that 33% of respondents between ages 21 and 44 had placed a bet before turning 21, which is the legal gambling age in most states.<\/p>\n \u201cYouth are at significantly greater risk for developing gambling problems,\u201d National Council on Problem Gambling Executive Director Heather Maurer said in a news release announcing the results, \u201cand as gambling becomes increasingly normalized in media, sports, and online spaces, the risks grow.\u201d<\/p>\n That normalization has seen sports gambling become welcomed by the industry. ESPN frequently includes gambling breakdowns and advice in its broadcasting. Sportsbook apps dominate TV and radio commercial advertising, and their branding is included on the floors of basketball arenas, the walls of baseball parks and the boards of hockey rinks.<\/p>\n Colin Campbell, who just finished his senior season with the Bowdoin men\u2019s lacrosse team, said he didn\u2019t hear much gambling chatter on campus, but hears it more among his friends from home in Cape Elizabeth.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re big into sports betting. They talk about it frequently,\u201d he said, adding that they place bets about once a week.<\/p>\n Madison Weeks, a senior at Bonny Eagle High School, said she hears classmates talk about betting as well. The state\u2019s two mobile sportsbooks, DraftKings and Caesars, require bettors to be 21. Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi, however, and less-regulated apps only require the user to be 18. Most sportsbooks verify ages through an automated system that requires users to provide Social Security numbers or upload a photo ID.<\/p>\n \u201cMostly just classmates within the school that are turning 18, they\u2019re getting that freedom, and I do hear them talking about that,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re just talking about the games that are upcoming, and they\u2019re like, \u2018What can I put into this?’\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018THEY LOOK AT IT AS INVESTING\u2019<\/p>\n For young adults, Manson, from ADEPT Maine, said gambling can carry a dangerous appeal.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was growing up, a lot of people considered gambling to be a moral failing,\u201d she said. \u201cWith this generation, there are social media influencers and people that are really proud of their gambling. They look at it as investing.\u201d<\/p>\n Purchase this image<\/a><\/p>\n Liz Thielen, the senior director of substance abuse treatment services at Nicasa Behavioral Health Services, said she\u2019s seen a shift in the typical person who comes to the organization for help.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was typically 40-, 50-, 60-year-olds reaching out for help with casino gambling, video slot poker, the lottery,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s trended younger and younger. \u2026 Most calls are related to young adults, emerging adults, males doing online sports betting and sometimes day trading.\u201d<\/p>\n Sports gambling, in particular, can give them the idea that they have an edge. They watch and follow sports, so they figure their acumen makes them more likely to pick the winners and top performers.<\/p>\n That, combined with being at an age in life where there\u2019s a focus on acquiring wealth, can provide a risky mix. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re becoming parents, they\u2019ve got a stable job. \u2026 They kind of see this as a way to make quick money,\u201d Thielen said. \u201cMany of them have spreadsheets and very sophisticated systems for organizing all the knowledge that they have. And there\u2019s a serious misconception about how much value that has for a sports bettor.\u201d<\/p>\n While gambling addiction can affect any age, Thielen said younger people tend to be more impulsive, which can make them more susceptible to getting into trouble.<\/p>\n \u201cJust like you wouldn\u2019t give your 12-, 15-year-old, 16-year-old liquor, early access to gambling does predispose young brains to the addictive properties,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s just that understanding like there is for alcohol and substances.\u201d<\/p>\n OFFERING HELP<\/p>\n Sports gambling scandals have started seeping into collegiate athletics. Since the start of 2024, three Fresno State basketball players, an Abilene Christian basketball player and a former Indiana quarterback were found to have placed bets on games their teams played.<\/p>\n It\u2019s part of what prompted Michelle Simpson, UMaine\u2019s associate athletic director for student success and a former field hockey player, to take preventive action. She brought in Thielen in late March to speak to Black Bear athletes about the risk of getting involved in sports gambling, both the potential for problem gambling and the punishment that awaits if they mixed betting with their sports.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw those national news stories about \u2026 it growing in popularity, and we\u2019re bombarded with it every single day now on our phones and TV,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just felt as though it was good timing to try to get ahead of it and provide some education.\u201d<\/p>\n John Sutyak, the athletic director at the University of Southern Maine, said his staff have increasingly emphasized sports gambling when talking to student athletes. <\/p>\n \u201cIf 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 \u2018Hey, don\u2019t do this,’\u201d he said. \u201cAnd back then, it was illegal. Now it\u2019s legal.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2023, the NCAA conducted a survey of over 3,500 18- to 22-year-olds, with 58% saying they participated in at least one sports bet.<\/p>\n Manson at ADEPT Maine, though, said Maine colleges haven\u2019t jumped on the topic, and that she offered webinars related to gambling among college students but got little attendance from staff.<\/p>\n She said younger adults can also be reluctant to seek help for problems. Manson oversees the state\u2019s self-exclusion list \u2014 gamblers who call and request to be restricted from betting \u2014 and of the 48 people on it for sports betting, only 13 were under age 30 when they joined, according to an anonymized list provided by the Department of Public Safety.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps it\u2019s because that\u2019s something that\u2019s less appealing to that demographic than it is to the older people \u2026 who start to feel like \u2018I\u2019m going to lose my kids if I don\u2019t get this under control,’\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that usually a younger person doesn\u2019t need to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n Thielen said that as sports betting\u2019s popularity continues to grow, helpful services need to adapt to find ways to reach any younger people struggling.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can\u2019t be all about addiction and problem and recovery,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I just started sports betting seven months ago, and you\u2019re coming at me with language that doesn\u2019t resonate with me, I\u2019m not even going to hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n IF YOU NEED HELP<\/p>\n IF YOU or someone you know is struggling with a gambling addiction, call 211 or 1-800-MYRESET. <\/p>\n TO LEARN MORE about services for those seeking help, visit adeptme.org\/problem-gambling. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lori Manson, of ADEPT Maine, an Augusta nonprofit that administers problem gambling services in the state, says gambling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-479246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/43639414_20260612_Sports-Betting_3.jpg\")
<\/a>Lori Manson of ADEPT Maine says, \u201cWhen I was growing up, a lot of people considered gambling to be a moral failing,\u201d she said. \u201cWith this generation, there are social media influencers and people that are really proud of their gambling. They look at it as investing.\u201d (Daryn Slover\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n