Critics call gambling “the devil’s playground.” Losses to online gambling in the U.S. now look set to live down to that estimation by surpassing the $1 trillion mark in coming years at the expense of American bettors.
U.S. lawmakers and government regulators “cannot continue to rely on the theory of responsible gambling, which shifts the burden of harm prevention onto individuals,” Derek Webb, founder and chief funder of the California-based Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said Wednesday in a release forecasting the impending losses.
A UPI report notes gambling is legal in some form in more than 80 percent of the nearly 200 nations around the globe, according to a recent report by a public health commission which also sounded the alarm on the danger of the online gambling industry to public health. The report sets out just what is at stake:
It’s estimated that roughly 16% of adults and 26% of adolescents who use an online gambling platform have a gambling disorder. The commission report added that 9% of adults and 16% of adolescents who use sports betting products, likewise, have a gambling problem.
Now the World Health Organization is saying that its recent estimates project the legal aspects to the online gambling market will hit $700 billion globally on an annual basis as early as 2028.
It added that U.S. consumers and the economy, likewise, are projected to lose at least $1 trillion to the 25-year-old online gambling market by 2028, as well.
A 2021 United Nations report had indicated that up to $1.7 trillion was already estimated to be lost on illicit betting markets every year.
Meanwhile, a 2022 Pew Research survey found that 19 percent of U.S. adults placed a sports bets either in person or online in the last year, with previous studies showing more and more young men are drawn to the activity.
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The W.H.O. emphasized the need for “universal, population-wide public health policies” designed to combat the harm of gambling and its known addictive qualities.
The District of Columbia and 38 states have legalized sports betting following a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a ban, according to the American Gaming Association.
Sports gambling is now legal in 36 states across the country.
