A newly released report focused on the impact of gambling across the globe, warning about the dangers of such activities and submitting recommendations on how to combat excessive gambling and protect the public.
80 Million People Are Affected by Problem Gambling
The report was published by The Lancet, one of the world’s highest-impact academic journals. To compile the report, the medical journal saw a commission of nearly two dozen experts from countries across the globe join forces. The experts focused on the availability of gambling across the globe, revealing that more than 80% of the countries across the globe support some form of gambling.
Recognizing the activity as an “expanding public threat,” the report pointed to the wide-reaching gambling activities that are available not only via traditional retail venues such as casinos and lotteries but via the internet thanks to apps and websites offering online casino gambling, betting and other forms of online gambling.
Concerningly, the report estimates that across the globe, there are 54.7 million men experiencing some form of problem gambling or disorder, while the number of women affected by those activities is an estimated 25.3 million. Sounding the alarm, the researchers pointed to the exponential growth of online casino and sports betting activities.
When it comes to online casinos, the report estimated that some 15.8% of the adult users may be impacted by a gambling disorder, while 26.4% of the adolescent users can be affected. On the other hand, online sports betting can cause gambling disorders for 8.9% of adult users and 16.3% of adolescent users, the report warned.
The Expansion of Gambling Is Portrayed as Normalization of the Activity
The new study explored the negative consequences related to commercial gambling, pointing that the activity can lead to significant financial losses and debt. At the same time, gambling can lead to physical and mental problems, increase criminal activities and lead to loss of employment, among other risks.
Focusing on the growth of gambling, the researchers analyzed that gambling products are developed in a way that makes them more appealing, thus more addictive and harmful. Per the new research, the gambling operators leverage cross selling to grow the interest in other products while at the same time playing a key role in rulemaking thanks to lobbying, funding research and other actions that can impact decision-making.
“To support expansion, the commercial gambling sector promotes its products and protects its interests by adopting corporate practices designed to influence consumers behavior, undermine legitimate science on the impact of gambling, and influence political processes around gambling regulation,“
reads The Lancet Public Health Commission on gambling
The gambling sector uses extensive advertising, gambling sponsorships and targeting to reach new customers. The sector’s toolkit includes the use of popular figures such as influencers and social media stars, who help promote gambling brands with the goal of “normalizing gambling.”
According to the research, one of the goals of the sector is to portray gambling “as harmless leisure and emphasizing the industry’s role in wealth creation, employment, and revenue generation.”
DraftKings and FanDuel’s Transition to Betting Helped Them Become Leaders
Across the United States, several states offer online gambling, while nearly 40 offer legal sports betting. Focusing on the US market, the research pointed to the transition of operators from daily fantasy sports betting to real-money betting following the 2018 US Supreme Court decision.
The whitepaper pointed to FanDuel and DraftKings, two operators that converted their business models and ultimately became leaders within the betting sector in the country. “Their success attracted the attention of more traditional gambling conglomerates, some of whom have added these firms and products to their rostrum,” the researchers wrote.
According to the report, the key advantage of FanDuel and DraftKings was that they had a database of “sport-interested Americans who could be converted to sports betting for-money as soon as it was legalized.” Six years after PASPA’s release, the dominance of the two operators is evident, considering that they hold approximately 70% to 80% of the betting market share.
