One out of 10 college students is a pathological gambler, according to one meta-analysis conducted by professors at the University of Buffalo, far higher than the 2-5% of the U.S. general population estimated to have a gambling problem. Other studies place the number of student gambling addicts lower, but still higher than the overall population of pathological gamblers.
That Buffalo analysis looked at 18 separate surveys conducted between 2005 and 2013, before the widespread legalization of sports betting, which is “the largest and fastest expansion of gambling in our nation’s history,” according to Keith Whyte, the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
More recent statistics about the prevalence of problem gambling among you people since the advent of mobile sports betting are unavailable, in part because the wave of online sports betting has crashed onto colleges so suddenly. While college students have always gambled, whether playing poker or betting on sports with a bookie, the betting apps are finding unusual traction on campuses.
Another survey of 3,527 Americans between ages 18 and 22—mostly college students—released in April by the National College Athletic Association, shows how sports betting has become commonplace. Nearly 60% have bet on sports, and 4% do so daily. Almost 6% reported losing more than $500 in a single day.