The escalation of sports betting has taken over broadcasts of several major sports leagues, leading to increased concerns about gambling addictions among youth populations.
If you watch any game from one of the major sports leagues on TV, you’ll come across several advertisements for online sports betting platforms. Whether it’s in a commercial, plastered somewhere in the stadium, or the play-by-play announcer telling you the current betting odds, it won’t take very long to know that betting is becoming an inescapable part of sports.
This is due to a 2018 Supreme Court decision that overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, giving states the option to choose whether or not they would legalize sports gambling. Prior to this decision, sports betting was only legal in Nevada. According to the Pew Research Center, sports betting is legal in 35 states and the District of Columbia as of September 2022.
With the sudden shift to legalized gambling along with the normalization of betting within broadcasts, some groups have voiced concern over how this will impact society in the long run.
According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, their helpline received 270,000 calls and texts in 2021, a 4.5% increase from the previous year.
One of the largest concerns is how legalized betting is affecting youth populations. While in most states the legal betting ages are either 18 or 21, the National Council on Problem Gambling says between 60% and 80% of high school students reported gambling within the past year, and about 4% to 6% of high school students are considered addicted to gambling.
In many states, the tax revenue generated from gambling goes toward educational funds. In Virginia, house delegate Sam Rasoul sponsored a state law requiring Virginia public schools to teach students the risks of gambling.
However, since sports betting is regulated by the states, the federal government receives more than 7.6 billion dollars in federal tax revenue but bares no responsibility for using that money to create and fund prevention programs.
In Georgia, sports betting is not currently legal, but gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has made legalizing sports gambling an integral part of her campaign.
As part of her policy proposal, she states that she would have sports betting taxed 20% in Georgia, the same as in Tennesee where it is already legal. The funds from legalized gambling would go towards funding for higher education and potentially Pre-K or technology funding.
Abrams’ campaign also brings forward a similar idea to what was done in Virginia, of using tax dollars to fund gambling addiction services and outreach programs.
While there has been bipartisan support for legalizing sports gambling in Georgia and creating safety nets similar to what is outlined in Abrams’ campaign, current governor Brian Kemp remains against the legalization of gambling for mostly moral reasons surrounding evangelical voters.
However, given national trends and a rare amount of bipartisanship surrounding the issue, it feels as though it won’t be long until sports betting is legalized in Georgia. It is vital that when the time comes, steps are taken to ensure that resources to prevent gambling addiction are provided through the tax dollars generated.
