Problem Gambling and Sports Betting: A Fast-Growing Addiction in New England

An addiction without a substance

Gambling disorder is the one addiction that involves no substance at all, and that is precisely why it is so easy to miss. There are no track marks, no smell on the breath, no slurred speech. There is just a person, a phone, and a habit that has quietly taken over their finances and their peace of mind.

Families often describe the moment they realized something was wrong not as a dramatic event but as an accumulation: a missed mortgage payment, a maxed-out credit card that shouldn't have been maxed out, a partner who got defensive when asked about a bank app notification. Because gambling disorder hides behind ordinary technology, it can go unrecognized far longer than a substance use disorder would.

Why it is rising now

Legal online sports betting has made gambling constant, private, and fast. What once required a trip to a casino now lives on a phone, available every minute of every game. For people vulnerable to addiction, that constant access removes every natural speed bump that used to exist: no drive to make, no dress code, no closing time.

The data back up what clinicians in New England have been seeing. A University of Massachusetts SEIGMA study tracked Massachusetts residents from March 2022, before legal sports betting launched, through fall 2024. Past-year sports betting participation rose from 16.7% in March 2022 to 26.9% in March 2023, once online and mobile sportsbooks came online, and then to 32.6% in 2024.

That growth in participation came with growth in harm. Among people who gamble monthly, the share reporting gambling problems rose from 20.9% in 2022 to 25.6% in 2023 and 28.0% by fall 2024, according to the SEIGMA current trends report. Reported financial harms among monthly gamblers climbed from 18.0% to 25.0% over the same period, and reported family or relationship harms nearly doubled, from 13.9% to 27.2%.

Weekly sports betting among monthly gamblers rose from 18.9% in 2022 to 26.3% in fall 2024, and monthly sports betting rose from 12.8% to 19.2%. Those numbers describe people betting on sports more often, in smaller and more frequent increments, which is exactly the pattern that makes a behavior harder to notice and harder to stop.

It's worth being precise about what these figures mean. They come from online panel surveys, not a full population diagnostic count, and the problem-gambling percentages apply specifically to people who already gamble monthly, not to all Massachusetts adults. The Boston Globe's coverage of the survey makes clear this is an association between expanded legal access and rising harm, not proof that legalization alone caused every point of increase. Still, the direction is consistent across every measure the researchers tracked.

Massachusetts' own helpline data point the same direction. The state's FY2024 problem-gambling data report recorded 81 referrals specifically for sports wagering, up from 73 the prior year, an 11% increase.

What problem gambling looks like

Gambling disorder follows the same arc as other addictions: tolerance, loss of control, and continuing despite harm. The American Psychiatric Association classifies it in the DSM-5-TR alongside substance-related and addictive disorders, because it involves the same persistent, recurrent pattern of behavior despite clear consequences.

Clinical signs include:

• Needing to bet more money or more often to get the same excitement.
• Repeated, unsuccessful attempts to cut back or stop.
• Preoccupation with betting, upcoming games, or recovering past losses.
• Gambling as a way to escape stress, anxiety, or a bad mood.
• Chasing losses with bigger bets to try to win money back.
• Lying to family, friends, or a partner about how much is being wagered.
• Jeopardizing a relationship, job, or education because of gambling.
• Relying on other people to bail out gambling-related debt.

A person does not need to gamble every day or lose a large sum to have a clinically significant problem. Rapid in-play wagering, one-tap deposits, promotional bonuses, and a phone that's always within reach can make the behavior more frequent and harder to interrupt than a trip to a physical casino ever was.

Warning signs for individuals and families

Consider an evaluation when betting is connected to any of the following:

• Unexplained debt, overdrafts, cash advances, or borrowing from friends or family.
• Repeated promises to stop, followed by continued betting.
• Hiding betting apps, bank statements, or account activity.
• Missed work, school, appointments, sleep, or family responsibilities.
• Conflict, separation, or legal and financial problems tied to gambling.
• Alcohol or drug use happening alongside betting.
• Any statement suggesting hopelessness or that life isn't worth living after a loss.

If someone expresses immediate intent to harm themselves, has a plan, or cannot stay safe, call or text 988 or call 911. Do not leave the person alone during a crisis, and remove or secure firearms and other lethal means when it can be done safely.

Families dealing with a loved one's gambling often want to help by monitoring every transaction, but that alone rarely works and can strain the relationship further. More effective steps include protecting essential household funds in a separate account, limiting shared access to credit, and reaching out to a clinician or gambling-specific treatment service together. These conversations should be handled carefully in any situation where there's a risk of coercion or intimate partner violence.

It is treated like other addictions

Because gambling disorder is a recognized behavioral addiction, it responds to the same evidence-based approaches used for substance use. Cognitive behavioral therapy has the strongest research support and typically targets the urges, the distorted beliefs about odds and "systems," the loss-chasing, and the emotional triggers that keep the cycle going. Treatment also builds a relapse-prevention plan and often brings family members into the process directly.

Because gambling problems and substance use disorders overlap so frequently, a thorough assessment should screen for both together rather than treating gambling in isolation. It should also screen for depression, anxiety, trauma, and bipolar-spectrum symptoms, since financial and relationship crises from gambling can intensify all of them. Medication may help selected patients when a co-occurring condition is present, but no medication currently stands alone as an approved cure for gambling disorder.

Treatment intensity should match the level of risk and impairment. Many people do well with outpatient therapy, financial counseling, and peer support such as Gamblers Anonymous. Others need more structured intensive outpatient care, and a smaller number, particularly those with suicidality, severe co-occurring substance use, or an unsafe home environment, may need a higher level of care such as partial hospitalization or residential behavioral health treatment. Self-exclusion tools, which block a person from casinos or betting apps, can support recovery but work best as one piece of a clinical plan, not a substitute for it.

East Point Behavioral Health treats gambling and sports-betting addiction with that same clinical seriousness, including screening for the co-occurring conditions that so often ride alongside it.

Finding help and understanding coverage

The SAMHSA National Helpline offers free, confidential, 24-hour information and treatment referrals at 1-800-662-HELP (4357), including referrals to state-funded and sliding-fee programs for people without insurance. When calling any program, it helps to ask directly whether they treat gambling disorder specifically, whether they address co-occurring mental health or substance use conditions, and what the program accepts for insurance, since gambling-specific coverage can be less consistent than coverage for substance use treatment.

Across New England

All six New England states now allow some form of legal sports wagering, but rules around mobile access and self-exclusion differ by state, and the clearest longitudinal public health data currently comes from Massachusetts rather than the region as a whole. That means the Massachusetts numbers should be read as strong state-specific evidence of a trend, not as a precise prevalence estimate for Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont.

If betting has stopped being entertainment and started being something hidden, that shift is the signal worth acting on. Gambling disorder is treatable, and reaching out early, whether to a helpline, a primary care provider, or a program that specializes in gambling and co-occurring conditions, can prevent the kind of financial and relational damage that makes recovery harder later.