MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Maybe you're still smarting over your March Madness fails or celebrating your wins, and maybe you put some money on it. If you did, you wouldn't be alone. Americans were expected to bet $3 billion on the tournament this year alone. But when does sports betting become a problem? NPR's Katia Riddle has this report.
KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE: To be clear, most people who gamble enjoy it responsibly, but not everyone. This man's name is Scott. He's a lifelong sports fan and a high school coach. He says people like him have a hard time disentangling gambling from their passion for sports.
SCOTT: Because it's something that we love.
RIDDLE: March Madness, he says, is extra difficult.
SCOTT: Everyone I know that gambles just goes crazy this time of year, from the conference tournaments through the national championship game.
RIDDLE: Scott asked that NPR just use his first name for this story. He's been in recovery for a few months. He says he's not ready to face the stigma around problem gambling that he would encounter if he talked about it publicly.
SCOTT: It feels like a character defect. It feels like I'd be admitting to being stupid.
RIDDLE: A lot more people are legally gambling in recent years. Sports betting is now legal in roughly two-thirds of the country. Some online gambling platforms also have casino games, like blackjack and roulette. Michelle Malkin is the director of the Gambling Research and Policy Initiative at East Carolina University. She says unlike drugs and alcohol, many people don't know the signs of gambling addiction.
MICHELLE MALKIN: It usually starts with, like, somebody who's really preoccupied with gambling. They want to go gamble by themselves, whether at home or if they do gambling, like, at a casino, but they don't tend to do it as a social activity anymore.
RIDDLE: These behaviors can trigger the same neural pathways as substance use disorders.
MALKIN: Like, they might try to stop, but they just can't seem to stay stopped for very long.
RIDDLE: Gambling disorders can lead to tragedy, failed relationships and careers, even suicide. Malkin calls it the gambler's fallacy.
MALKIN: That to fix these problems that have been caused by gambling, I just need to gamble more, and it becomes cyclical 'cause then they are digging the hole deeper and deeper.
RIDDLE: There are some outpatient therapists who specialize in gambling addiction. There are also a small number of programs around the country that do inpatient treatment. Many people say the first step - find a support group. Here's Scott.
SCOTT: You have to find connections. I mean, you have to find human connections.
RIDDLE: Gamblers Anonymous is an organization like Alcoholics Anonymous, but not every place in the U.S. has a meeting. Scott says he had to look to online message boards, places like Reddit, to find people struggling with the same problem.
SCOTT: Even if it's one person at the beginning.
RIDDLE: Jeffrey Wasserman runs an online support group for people struggling with gambling. He says quitting sports betting is especially difficult.
JEFFREY WASSERMAN: So now you're asking me to give up the two things in life that I love the most - and that is gambling and sports.
RIDDLE: He compares it to an eating disorder. Just like learning to be around food, people can learn to be around sports. He says, start small. For example, try a weeklong break or record a game so you're not tempted to bet on the results.
WASSERMAN: Like anything else, you can approach it in a measured way.
RIDDLE: A measured way to get back to a love of the game without the risk of losing everything.
Katia Riddle, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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