Experts suggest that as many as 6 percent of all college students have a gambling problem, an incidence rate that is nearly double the average for U.S. adults reported by the National Council on Problem Gambling.
The Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services are partnering with local universities to reduce the harmful and persistent trend of unsafe betting on campus.
Diana Goode, the executive director of the Connecticut council, said the advent of legal and accessible online gambling resulted in a “huge demographic shift” in problem gamblers in Connecticut.
“We used to think that the problem gambler was the little old lady at the slot machine. Now it’s the 20-something male betting on sports,” Goode said.
To combat this troubling pattern, seven colleges and universities in Connecticut are partnering with the council this fall for the third year of the College Campus Gambling Prevention Initiative.
Mallory Schultz, who oversees the program as the prevention manager for the council, said the initiative uses a science-based approach to raise awareness around gambling-related harms and prevent problem gambling on campus.
Through the program, Schultz said colleges run screening days and distribute surveys to collect community-specific data to craft campus policy and programming to address problem gambling among students.
While children and teens receive lots of education around risky behaviors such as alcohol and substance use, distracted driving and more in middle and high school, Schultz said most students graduate with little-to-know information about the impact of problem gambling.
Schultz said the program provides training and education to residential life assistants and at-risk populations, like student-athletes, to teach them the warning signs and spread awareness about support and treatment options.
“Students will come up to our table, and say their roommate has a problem or ‘I know someone,’” Schultz said. “That speaks to the volume of people experiencing harm who may not even be reaching out for help or might not know that they’re experiencing (a problem).”
Approximately 74 percent of college students in Connecticut have gambled within the last year, according to data released in March by researchers at DMHAS and the University of Connecticut School of Social Work who polled students across 30 public, private and community colleges and universities in the state through surveys and focus groups.
The results suggest a higher rate of gambling engagement among college students compared to the general population. A separate study examining the impact of legal gambling in Connecticut found that roughly 69 percent of Connecticut residents in 2023 had partaken in some form of gambling.
According to the college study, the “most popular forms of gambling students reported were bingo and the lotto/lottery,” however students who scored higher on the Problem Gambling Severity Index were more likely to report engagement in online gambling and sports betting.
Schultz said that while upperclassmen over the age of 21 are using official online casinos and sportsbooks, she said that underage gamblers wager through offshore betting accounts, bookies, or apps like Fliff that circumvent local gambling laws by having users purchase coins for free play.
Schultz said that many students are “already participating in” gambling activity “when they get to college.”
For some, Schultz said betting is ingrained in the culture.
“I (spoke) with someone recently who mentioned to me that he was part of a fraternity and that they have a bookie at the fraternity. And so it’s really a culture within his frat,” Schultz said.
Schultz said that typically, the young adults who seek help through the council’s 24-hour hotline report major losses with online casino games, however Schultz said the gambling often originates with sports betting.
“The individual will be (on an app) sports betting and then to pass time, they might do blackjack or they might play roulette, and that’s where they particularly are experiencing harm and where they get looped in and lose a lot of money,” Schultz said.
According to data from the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection the state has received more than $153.1 million in payments for online casino gaming since its launch in October of 2021.
Payments for online, retail and fantasy sports betting have also topped $52.4 million.
An estimated 51 percent of the state’s sports betting revenue comes from problem gamblers, according to a study published in February on the impacts of legalized gambling in Connecticut. It’s a massive stake for a segment of the population that, according to the report, makes up just 1.8 percent of residents and 2.6 percent of gamblers in the state.
The study, which was produced by Gemini Research for DMHAS, found that problem and at-risk gamblers represent just 6.7 percent of the population but account for more than 70 percent of the state’s gambling revenue.
“One of the big problems with gambling is there’s just so much money coming into the state,” Goode said. “That is an uphill battle for us…Luckily, I always say if you’re going to be a problem gambler, be a problem gambler in Connecticut.”
“Although the state is making a lot of money off gambling, we also have incredible treatment programs (for gamblers and their families) and most of it is free,” Goode added. “As much as it’s very frustrating to see what’s going on with problem gambling and increases in gambling, we’re super grateful that the state has recognized that there’s a problem and they’re putting money where their mouth is.”
Addressing the problem gambling, and the harms associated with this type of addiction, is crucial.
According to the state impact study, more than 67 percent of problem gamblers in Connecticut reported problems with mental health including severe stress, guilt, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. More than half reported significant problems with finances, with 13.5 percent reporting bankruptcy due to gambling.
Three in 10 problem gamblers said their addiction caused significant problems with personal relationships, including 14 percent who “reported domestic violence because of their gambling,” 8.5 percent who reported child welfare involvement, and 7.3 percent who reported divorce or separation, according to the study.
Nearly one in five reported problems with work and school. According to the impact report, 4 percent of problem gamblers said they lost employment or dropped out of school as a result of their addiction. Roughly 10 percent attributed physical health problems to gambling.
As gambling has become more normalized, Goode said she is concerned that many people “don’t see the dangers” when they make a wager.
“I look at the gambling ads a lot like what happened with the opioid crisis,” Goode said. “We ran into trouble with the opioids because of free samples and people saying it was risk-free, and that’s what a lot of these gambling advertisements are saying.”
When sports books and online casinos run ads broadcasting risk-free bets, free play and bonuses, it clouds the public’s understanding of the risks.
“They’re saying it’s a risk-free activity and they’re giving out free samples,” Goode said. “We legalized marijuana at the same time, we legalized gambling. If dispensaries were saying marijuana is risk-free, we’d be freaking out. If dispensaries were saying come on in for a free sample, we’d be freaking out. But for some reason that seems to be fine when it comes to gambling.”
Goode explained that for many problem gamblers, “it takes, in a lot of cases, a couple of years for people to understand that they can’t stop gambling and they are betting more than they actually want to.”
For years, Goode explained the council fought for problem gambling to receive the same recognition as other harmful behaviors.
“When people are talking about guns and drugs and alcohol and unsafe sex and abuse all of those things on college campuses or in regular life, we just want to be a question on the survey: Are you also struggling with gambling?” Goode said. “I think we’re starting to get there, which for us is a really big deal.”
To reduce the risk of developing a gambling problem, experts recommend that players stick to a budget, set time limits, understand the risks and odds, and play for fun.
“Hope to win but expect to lose,” Responsible Play the CT Way reminds consumers. “Treat gambling as a form of entertainment and not a way to make money … Remember, you’re playing to have a good time – never chase your losses.”
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Individuals seeking problem gambling help for themselves or loved ones can contact the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 call or chat helpline by phone at 1-888-789-7777 or online at ccpg.org/chat.
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