Harvard Panel Says Online Gambling Has Raised Stakes for Public Health
Posted on: January 31, 2025, 03:27h.
Last updated on: January 31, 2025, 03:27h.
A recent panel hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health about how risks to public health have increased as gambling has gone digital in recent years concluded that intervention of some kind is needed.

Today, the U.S. public has access to an array of online gambling and betting options. From iGaming and online sports betting to controversial casino-like sweepstakes websites and wagering exchanges that allow people the bet on everything from elections to tomorrow’s bitcoin price, gambling is more widespread than ever before.
With sports betting taking the online gaming industry mainstream, and offshore and unregulated casino websites and sweepstakes platforms pouncing on naïve Americans who aren’t entirely sure what is and isn’t legal, responsible gaming experts, addiction counselors, and public health researchers think more safeguards are needed.
“The groups most at risk are emerging adults and adolescents,” said Lia Nower, the director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University. Nower also co-directs the school’s Addiction Counselor Training Certificate Program.
“We need a federal presence like we have for cigarettes, alcohol, and other forms of addiction,” Nower continued. Nower said a federal opt-out program could be useful in allowing problem gamblers and those prone to addiction to exclude their access to gambling websites and apps.
Gambling Addiction Largely Unknown
The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that 2.5 million adults in the U.S. have a severe gambling problem. Another five to eight million are considered to have mild or moderate gambling disorders.
Those rates are increasing, as it was only in 2023 when the NCPG put the estimated adults with severe gaming problems at approximately two million. The rise is largely because of the continued expansion of online gaming options.
Online gambling is a public health issue and requires a public health strategy,” said Victor Ortiz, the director of the Massachusetts Office of Problem Gambling Services.
The attendees of the Harvard talk said problem gambling rates could be much higher, but it’s difficult if not impossible to accurately pinpoint how many people are “lying in bed” gambling while their partner sleeps next to them. A key point highlighted by Ortiz is that online gambling is bringing a new demographic to the problem gambling arena — people who are educated, have good-paying jobs, and have a higher place in society than the gambling addicts of yesteryears.
“We’re getting calls from people in significant distress who are not our typical callers,” Ortiz explained.
Responsible Gaming Programs
The American Gaming Association will unveil its annual State of the Industry presentation next month with President and CEO Bill Miller. The odds are good that the trade group that represents the interests of commercial and tribal gaming in the nation’s capital will promote the significant investments its members have made into responsible play.
Responsible gaming programs are a critical part of everyday business practices in the U.S. casino gaming industry. The central goal of these programs is to ensure that patrons responsibly enjoy casino games as a form of entertainment,” an AGA release said.
Many responsible gaming initiatives, critics say, force the gambler to initiate help. They say it remains rare for an operator, whether it be a physical casino or an online gaming operation, to intervene and stop a player from gambling.
“Responsible gambling is something that companies love to talk about, but it puts the responsibility on the individual,” said Shekhar Saxena, an adjunct professor of global mental health at Harvard.
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The genie is out of the bottle.