US gambling addiction is ‘out of control’ as betting markets boom, policy expert warns

Prediction market platforms contend that they are not gambling platforms, but rather financial trading platforms. Critics argue they are gambling under another name.

‘A public health crisis’

As prediction market platforms classify their offerings as “event derivatives”, however, they are placed – unlike traditional sports books or casinos – under federal commodities regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), rather than state gaming authorities. As a result, they are accessible across the country to users 18 and older.

But as more Americanswager on sports, stocks and events, public concern around the expansion of online gambling appears to be growing as clinicians and advocate for greater support and regulation warn of increased addiction levels. An Ipsos poll from November also found that about 40% of Americans said that they would support the federal government “doing more to regulate sports betting.”

Levant believes the US is at a critical juncture. “There’s a need to demonstrate – both to the people of America, and the political leaders in America – that there is a problem,” he said. “And we know what the cause of the problem is: the cause of the problem is the unregulated nature of a dangerously and effectivelydesigned online gambling product.

“Once you know what the problem is, seems to me, you have a binary choice. You maintain the status quo and accept a harm, or you go back to honoring that vow to try and do something about it.”

The PHAI conference is designed to “bring to the United States the true experts” on gambling and public health “not only from this country, but from around the world”, Levant said.Speakers include Charles Livingstone, an associate professor at Monash University’s school of public health and preventive medicine in Australia, and Dr Matt Gaskell, the clinical lead and consultant psychologist at the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) Northern Gambling Service. US speakers includeRichard Blumenthal, a Democratic senator of Connecticut, and Paul Tonko, a New York congressman, who have pushed for a legislative crackdown.

“This is not an anti-gambling conference,” Levant said. “This is a pro-public health symposium with real solutions.”

On both the federal level and in numerous states, legislation has been introduced to regulate online gambling. One of the bills that will be talked about on Friday is the Safe Bet Act, introduced in Congress by Tonko and Blumenthal, which seeks to establish “minimum federal standards” for legal sports betting and seeks to impose limits on marketing, introduce affordability checks and restrictions on apps using artificial intelligence to track players and create bets.

Prediction market platforms “sort of amplify the need for a public health approach”, said Levant, who noted they make betting “even more readily available by reaching down to people as young as 18”, whereas in most states that have legalized sports betting you have to be at least 21. Such platforms are “broadening the scope of what can be gambled on in a micro way”, he argued, and contributing to the “normalization process that is at the heart of the public health crisis” around online gambling.

Levant’s perspective is shaped by personal experience. He said Monday marked the 12th anniversary of his last bet.