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Gambling is more accessible than ever before. And as the NCAA basketball tournament heats up, experts warn that the risks of gambling addiction are not widely understood. NPR's Katia Riddle reports.
KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE: In recent years, online gambling platforms have proliferated.
JEN: On your phone, like, money's not real money. It's not tangible. And so you lose sight of, like, the fact that you've just gambled away, like, all this real money.
RIDDLE: This woman asked we just use her first name, Jen, for this story. She is more than $100,000 in debt after struggling for years with problem gambling. She's in recovery now and fears for her professional reputation if she speaks openly. She says online platforms that facilitate sports and other betting feel like video games. They put the casino in your house and in your hand 24 hours a day.
JEN: And I could wake up in the middle of the night and gamble, or I could do it from bed. Like, it's just so easy.
RIDDLE: Jen has also struggled with a substance use disorder. She says the primary difference for her between that and gambling, gambling is worse.
JEN: The urges come out of nowhere, and the distance between you and the action is so minimal. I don't have to call up a shady dealer and, like, ask him to deliver something. I don't have to ingest anything. Like, it's really just a matter of, like, picking up my phone.
RIDDLE: The entire industry of gambling in America changed radically in 2018. That's when the Supreme Court deregulated it. Now, 38 states have legal gambling. The industry reports annual profits over $70 billion. Experts say addiction research has just not kept up with these changes. Michelle Malkin is director of the Gambling Research and Policy Initiative at East Carolina University.
MICHELLE MALKIN: The last time a large national study was really accepted as the prevalence rate was in 1999, which is nothing close to what we see happening in the United States or the world today.
RIDDLE: That study pinned the number of problem gamblers at less than 1%. Malkin is working to update this figure. She believes it is significantly higher.
MALKIN: Now, the medical community has been able to show through their research that gambling impacts a person very much like putting a substance into your body.
RIDDLE: Neuroscience shows that gambling triggers the same pathways that addictive substances do and delivers that same kind of dopamine hit. Les Bernal runs an advocacy group called Stop Predatory Gambling.
LES BERNAL: The business model is based on addiction.
RIDDLE: Bernal points to an investigation from The Wall Street Journal that showed that 70% of the profits from one online gambling company came from less than 1% of the users. He says with the states partnering with this industry, it sets up an inherent conflict of interest.
BERNAL: Those are the business practices that make all the money for the state. Like, so there's no revenue without the addicted gambler.
RIDDLE: Representatives from the industry point out that states do set aside money from gambling revenue for treatment and intervention. Joe Maloney is with the American Gaming Association.
JOE MALONEY: A hundred-thirty million dollars goes to problem gambling services, preventions and treatments.
RIDDLE: He says problem gamblers can also turn to illegal gambling. Keeping it legal offers a way to fund treatment.
MALONEY: Let's generate revenues that can go back into cities and communities and states for critical priorities that we deem important.
RIDDLE: There's also guardrails that companies use, like forced brakes or cutting people off after too much time. Jen, the woman with more than $100,000 of debt, says none of these things made a difference for her. She's still working on putting her life back together.
JEN: My last relapse was in December, less than three months ago.
RIDDLE: She says modern life is almost impossible without a phone, but that's where the danger lies.
JEN: I don't trust myself.
RIDDLE: Doesn't trust herself, she says, when her addiction can be fed with just a few taps on her phone. Katia Riddle, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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