Bookmakers are finding in the American sport their new niche. They are present in competitions where until five years ago it was unlikely to find advertisements for this type of company such as NBAo la NFL –with the Superbowl being one of the most followed events in the world–. The presence of these ads continues to boom despite the fact that there are states where betting is prohibited. “Giving freedom to this product is a public health problem and it has to be addressed as such,” he explains to Public the professor of psychology Jose Cesar Perales.
Proof of this increase is that the citizens of this country in 2023 increased by 27.8% of the money they spent on sports bettingexceeding 120 billion dollars. They are American Gaming Association data (AGA), which highlights that at this year’s Superbowl, gamblers spent $340 per person (44% more than last year).
The consequences are already being reflected in the country’s population. calls for help Help centers for people with gambling addiction are growing in several states, such as Ohio, where the Problem Gambling Network organization recorded a 55% more notices compared to the previous year. In a NBC interviewa citizen, who did not want to reveal his identity, said he lost “his marriage, his house and hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Unai Garma, former sports betting addict: “I started stealing money from home”
There are more and more people affected. And the age range is getting smaller. As the affected person told NBC: “At meetings, Now I see younger and younger people. When I started meeting, I was the youngest. I was just over 40 years old,” he said. Now, even minors can be found gambling. As is the case with Unai Garmaa sports lover who started at 15. “I asked friends, I had debts, I started stealing money from home. In the end it becomes a problem“Garma, now 27, told this newspaper.
An industry aimed at young people
Perales says that “the sports betting market has been quite clearly oriented towards young people”. In this way, the profile of the “pathological gamblers” –those who are addicted– has changed in recent years.
Sports betting is made “for people to lose,” although there is a certain “skill component” to it, he notes. Therefore, “They attract people who believe they have that ability.“This combination of youth, distorted beliefs regarding the possibility of making money in the long term and a certain concept linked to gambling is quite common today,” adds the expert, who details that “it is a type of player that practically did not exist before and now, however, arrives at treatment centers with some frequency“.
Normalizing play from a young age
An example of this new profile is Garma. “Over time you start losing money. I was asking friends, I had debts, I started stealing money from home. In the end it becomes a problem. I didn’t pass a single subject and I stopped going to university.“I lied to everyone every day,” he says.
Unai Garma: “When there was no ball, we played poker”
Before betting, Unai emphasizes that his first contact with gambling occurred at the age of 12 with La Quiniela. Already in the second year of ESO, he and his friends They started playing poker in their free time after lunch. “when there was no ball.” According to him, they bet a small amount: “Maybe 5 euros. Nobody told us anything“, he adds.
Now, Unai has not bet for seven years and has a project called A90Degrees with which he gives talks, conferences and training sessions in order to help and give visibility to the dangers of gambling addiction. “We want them to know the negative side of this, because through advertising they show us the positive side. It is necessary for them to see that This world has its dangers and you have to be very careful“, he notes.
Video games, an early exposure to gambling
Video games share two similar characteristics to gambling. The first of these is the loot boxes: the user buys a product with real money whose content is totally random. “The most normal thing is that you get something of no value at all,” explains Perales. The second is the “simulated gambling“, certain missions consisting of playing a game of poker with virtual currency.
José César Perales: “People who spend money on loot boxes are more likely to spend money on gambling”
In this way, the child audience of video games is “being exposed to content that is very similar to games of chance,” adds the expert, who assures that “people who spend money on loot boxes are more likely to spend money on gambling“.
This correlation is “under study,” says the expert. However, Perales is cautious and tells this newspaper that “we cannot say with total certainty that people who buy loot boxes will develop gambling addiction as a result of that early exposure.”
Experts say that “the more exposure, the greater the risk”
“In general, the more exposure, the more riskGambling is an addictive agent. The more you are exposed to gambling, the easier it is for addiction to take effect. In that sense, It is not very different from any drug of abuse“, contextualizes José César Perales.
And it is not easy to get away from the problem when more and more sports competitions (baseball and ice hockey) advocate include gambling in their advertisingThe most recent case is that of the NBA with its League Pass platform, which broadcasts streaming the parties, and which includes the option of betting live from mobile without having to take your eyes off the match. It is a “very aggressive marketing strategy,” says the psychologist. “It is intended to take advantage of the fact that, if you are a fan of a team, you become a fan of the team.” customer of a betting house“, he adds.
NBA players can invest in and openly advertise betting houses
But it doesn’t stop there, the NBA and the players also signed an agreement, which came into effect in the 2023/24 season, which allows athletes who invest in sports betting companiesas well as being able to advertise them openly. “This is a danger and should disappear completely,” Unai Garma clarifies.
Although not all players represent the elite that exalts sports betting. There are exceptions, and one of them was the Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert“This is damaging our game. I know that betting and all this is getting bigger and bigger, but it shouldn’t be like this,” he said on March 9 at a press conference after the match after being sent off for making a gesture to the referee suggesting that it was rigged. As a result he was fined $100.00..
Personalized advertising for self-banned players
There is an option to block advertising for betting houses and casinos that you receive on your mobile phone or email. Unai Garma, like other users, made this decision to leave the addiction behind. However, according to Garma, Companies are bypassing this ban to continue promoting your business.
“The industry is a bunch of vultures. I find it very sad that there are people who are self-banned and that we receive SMS advertising betting houses. It makes no sense at all. I receive messages from people telling me that they are self-banned and receive their own messages from betting shopscasinos, etc. That needs to be regulated much more,” argues Unai Garma.
Both Garma and Perales agree on the importance of “seek specialized help“. The Spanish Federation of Rehabilitated Gamblers has the phone 900 200 225 24 hours a day to help citizens with gambling addiction, in addition to having different associations in each province.
Gambling addiction “makes you a person you’re not really,” Marga recalls, although there is always a “way out.” The path is not “easy,” but Asking for help “will be the best decision of your life”“And when you come out of this, the peace is eternal,” the young man concludes.
