Sports gambling is being done everywhere. Gambling app advertisements featuring famous athletes will be played on game broadcasts and social media. Commenters discuss betting odds on live broadcasting. Using a league path, a streaming app from the National Basketball Association, fans can play live beds while watching the basketball game.
The explosion occurred following the 2018 US Supreme Court’s ruling, which disable laws that were forbidden to legalize sports gambling in most states. To date, 30 states and Washington DC have legally legalized sports online gambling, and the US emerging industry is worth $ 10 billion and has continued to grow. According to a 2024 survey, one in five has an online sports gambling service account, most of which use a gambling app on smartphones.
These mobile apps have made sports gambling easier and easier to access. In addition, companies can access a large amount of data on customer behavior, use them to continue betting on people, make it easier to fall into more problematic behaviors, and stop. Experts say they are more difficult.
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“The function that makes these products attractive and attractive is also an addictive function,” says Heather Wordor, a policy researcher who studies gambling at Glasgow University.
Be absorbed in
In any form, gambling can be addicted. The thrill of victory can activate the brain reward system and distort the perception of risk. Lear Noower, led by the Ratgars University Gambling Research Center, explains that there are three stages in the onset of gambling problems. First, people begin to emphasize their victory overly and begin to gamble more. As you play, you may inevitably enter the losing stage and start gambling further, expecting to “follow the loss”, that is, to regain lost funds. This can cause desperation and despair, which can cause economic and physical harm to the person and the people around you.
Gambling addiction is considered mental health disorders, as well as alcohol or opioidos. However, even if the gambling problem has not reached this level, it may be harmful. Waddle says that the past 10 years have shown that the damage has been distributed much more widespread and much more widespread than expected. Gambling can affect families and communities as a whole. The risk of suicide and domestic violence increases. Probably the most catastrophic is the most common gambling problem that is the most common among those with the lowest money to lose.
Researchers are already observing economic damage as each state legalization of online sports gambling. In recent research papers posted in the repository SSRN but have not yet been reviewed, researchers have four years after the state legalized online sports gambling, and the average credit score of consumers has an average of 1. % Of% and the proportion of bankruptcy applications increases 25 to 30%.
Dark pattern
Gambling of all formats does not accompany the same level of risk. For example, participating in poker games with a friend is less dangerous than playing on a slot machine. The slot has long been a casino’s largest source of revenue due to its poisoning potential. Psychologist Jamie Trans, who is studying gambling at Wales’ Swangy University, says this is an incredible pace of the machine. Unlike poker and blackjack games, it takes only a few seconds between betting and winning. Torance says that the experience will become more immersive, and some slot players will fall into a transformer state called “dark flow” and completely immerse yourself in the game. If the turn around is early, the act of pressing the button and the rapid increase in dopamine, which have the potential of victory, will be closely linked, and people will continue to continue the lever.
Sports gambling used to be a slow formal gambling, and people were mainly betting on games and racing results directly or over the phone. With a digital app, people can bet 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and have funded for small events, such as which team scoring first or someone removes the free throw. And you can connect these microbets to make a large bed called parlor. This is a popular feature that can be a big prize, but is usually not rewarded.
The sports gambling says, “It’s getting much rapid,” says Torance. “It’s not as harmful as a slot machine, but it’s going in that direction.”
Nevertheless, these apps can be tracked incredibly about the fact that slot machines, old bookmakers and casinos can not be done, that is, user betting. A sports gambling dealer, that is, a sportsbook, can decide what kind of offer to send by using information about when and how someone bet and what he bet on. Say. For her, this consumer profiling is one of the most concerned aspects of online gambling products.
“If you take out a cigarette from the box, what happened to the cigarette company? What happened to the cigarette company? If you know, you are smoking.
Woodle has recently served as a co -chair of the committee on gambling risks against public health. According to their report published in October Lancet, She and colleagues called some of the functions of these apps the “dark pattern.” This is a term used in the product design of a user interface that abuses cognitive bias and acts other than the best profit to people. The 2022 audits for 10 online gambling apps available in the UK have identified general deceptive marketing and design practices that could cause the following damage:
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The registration process is smooth and often lacks effective age confirmation.
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Pay or bet with default amount higher than the actual minimum amount. This allows people to choose a higher amount, depending on the principle called “anchoring”.
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Payment and bet by one click
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Difficult to obtain safety tools
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Minimum account balance required for withdrawal
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Immediately after the previous bet, there will be a prompt to make another bet.
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There is no function to display how much user loses during game play
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Push notifications and emails that emphasize the urgency and rarity of a bet offer
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Difficult to close or “immortal” account (it means that it cannot be completely closed)
Torance says that such features will spend more time and money betting. He said that the gambling company said, “I have all the knowledge of how the human mind works and how human behavior works, and basically using that knowledge for profits. There is. “
And some of these features can make it difficult for those who have gambling problems to stop gambling, not to leave gambling. Push notifications, e -mails, or text messages that include the attractive “limited time” offer of 10 “free beds” may be those who have gambling problems and are about to quit. There is.
Torance says he wants to imagine a person who has been suspending alcohol for two weeks. “On the way to work, some people who work in their favorite pubs and bars came out and said,” There is a free cup of tequila. Please enjoy …. “That person denies that. It will be very difficult.
Who is the person in charge?
According to Joe Malony, the US gaming association, a leading industry group in the US legal gambling industry, the sportsbooks use these features in sportsbooks. He states that there are some reasons. He says that sportsbook operators are competing not only with their colleagues, but also by illegal gambling operators who provide “sophisticated” and “innovative” user experience. “There is a potential risk of losing that customer as long as it continues to friction in legal and regulated game experiences.”
Malony says that customers are also expecting a personalized prompt and smooth experience in digital life, and gambling apps are no exception. He says, “I don’t want to be in the Australian Open game (if I’m not interested in tennis).” “It’s important to meet where consumers are,” he emphasized that the app should be considered as entertainment, not a means of producing wealth.
In response to the question of whether to use the same design and marketing strategy for addictive products such as gambling, Malony has mentioned many safety functions of apps required by law in some states. Customers can also limit their spending time and money, and voluntarily prohibit apps.
Mr. Nower’s research shows that Better rarely uses these safety means. She and her colleagues analyze all sports gambling in New Jersey to create reports for state gambling regulatory authorities. According to researchers, it has been found that only 1 to 4 % of people under the age of 25 use safety functions.
The gambling industry emphasizes the importance of playing with responsibility. However, Nawers, Torance, and Waddle have criticized the industry, which is imposing all responsibilities to individuals. “It’s very easy to say,” Everything is a personal responsibility, “” says Whidal. “It is very good for the industry to do this, because the company’s liability as a company to design, advertise, and provide products is exempted.”
Gambling is becoming more popular among young people who are prone to addiction. According to a survey conducted between December 2020 and May 2021, 33 % of the gambling New Jersey people from 18 to 24 are gambling only online. It was nearly five times higher than 2017 and more expensive than any other area. Age group. In 19 % of the 18-24 -year -old groups who gambling, reported high -risk behavior and experience that could show gambling disorders.

Most states, including New Jersey, are 21 years old, but it is not difficult to avoid age confirmation. Children and young people may be able to access adult ID cards, credit cards, or accounts, regardless of their consent. “There is no way to know if this person (betting) is 50 or 15,” Nawer says. In the United States, there is also an internationally registered sports gambling site that can be used by people over the age of 18.
Children are also gambling from younger ages through video games. Mr. Nower says that gambling and video games can no longer distinguish gambling and video games, thanks to the common functions such as skinbetting, which are a kind of gambling that uses loot boxes and virtual items as an in -game currency. I mentioned it. Also, using the popular “Social Sports Book” app allows users to use cryptocurrencies without age confirmation. “Even if you lose money, you will get used to playing,” Torance says. And “When you actually play with your own money, that feeling will be even stronger.”
So far, there are uneven regulations on gambling advertising in the United States. Ohio has banned the marketing term “free bed” and “risk -free”, and has recently passed a law to warn consumer on gambling ads. Other countries have also made extensive regulations, Britain banned gambling advertising with celebrities in 2022, and Italy completely banned gambling ads in 2018.
Torance proposes regulations to reduce the speed and ease of betting in the mobile app. For example, in Australia, it is mandatory to bet on the phone when the game begins. Regulatory authorities may be delayed to bank deposits to gambling apps. NOWER suggests that people request the following: opt out By adding safety functions such as deposit restrictions instead of opt -in, the risk of harm can be reduced.
In the United States, legal sports gambling is still in the early stages. Torance hopes that the country can learn from the sports gambling for a long time and the sports world has been committed in the UK, which was “completely saturated”. “I sincerely hope that the gambling industry in the United States will understand that consumers are exploited for anyone.”