United States: New research reveals that the growth of online betting has influenced the commercial gambling industry to grow across the globe, risking the health of individuals.
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The commission’s twenty-two members, which are mostly academicians from a dozen countries, carried out a survey of studies and surveys analyzing the extent of practice, effects, and evils of gambling and found that current legal frameworks do not adequately protect the public and have to be enhanced at the international level.
According to the commission’s epidemiology lead, Louisa Degenhardt, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, “We’re not talking about people playing a game with cards around the table anymore,” NBC News reported.
“Many people might be really experiencing harm from gambling — we think that it’s probably around 72 million people globally. That number is likely to increase, as we are seeing the increase in commercial organizations targeting people to gamble more,” Degenhardt added.
Gambling is legal in some capacity
Pursuant to the report, gambling is legal to some extent in more than a third of global countries.
The authors inferred these rates from their systematic review of the available research: 16 percent of adults and 26 percent of adolescents who play online casino or slot products have gambling disorders; 9 percent of adults and 16 percent of adolescents who engage in sports betting products have such disorders.
Currently, 38 states and Washington DC have already made sports betting legal after the top court overturned the ban in 2018, according to the American Gaming Association.
Mobile sports betting is allowed and regulated in thirty states, including Washington, D.C., ever since the SC put down a ban in 2028, as per the American Gaming Association.
Therefore, there are thirty states that allow mobile sports betting and have regulations in place.
According to a 2022 Pew Research survey, nineteen percent of US adults had placed sports bets either in person or online in the last year.
According to Heather Wardle, a researcher on the commission and a professor of urban studies, social policy, and health at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, “The accessibility is now 24/7,” and “They can target advertising to you that they know you will respond to. It makes it incredibly difficult to switch off. … Any greater exposure to gambling is associated with greater harm.”