Last week, an academic paper co-authored by Joshua Grubbs of the University of New Mexico and Shane Kraus of UNLV confirmed what many have suspected: Those who engage in sports betting are about twice as likely to binge drink than other types of gamblers and people who don’t wager at all.

Story continues below

“This makes sense when you consider the fact that sports gamblers tend to be a little younger and thrill-seeking in nature, and if you think about how sports are consumed in the U.S. — watching the game with friends at a bar or a tailgate party or a friend’s house — alcohol is going to be part of that equation for a lot of people,” Grubbs told Sports Handle in an interview conducted shortly after the paper was published.