If roughly 10 percent of young adults plunk down sports bets at least once a week, is that a stark red flag of future addiction or a healthy green light for the state’s legal gambling enterprise? It may be in the eye of the beholder.
One year into legalized sports gambling and growing concern about its impact on the young, a new CommonWealth Beacon/GBH News poll doesn’t paint a clear-cut apocalyptic picture.
Of the 30 percent of 18- to 29-year olds who say they have placed a sports bet in the last year, most say they only occasionally bet and generally place bets for less than $20. Yet about a fifth of those who bet in the last year said they bet more than once a week, and another fifth said they did so about once a week.
