As discussed in my most recent post, the face of gambling — and gambling addiction — is changing. Far from the old days of late-night trips to casinos and surreptitious calls to aggressive bookies, in most US states, you can now place a bet with just a few dollars, a few minutes, and a smartphone. And sports wagering is so ubiquitous that an entire new generation is truly growing up on it, perhaps viewing it as a fundamental part of the sports fandom experience.
But as research shows, this doesn’t mean that people aren’t getting addicted. In fact, online wagering may even be more likely to lead to problems.
Recognized in the DSM-5-TR as “Gambling Disorder” and belonging to the same category as substance abuse, compulsive or problematic gambling is often a silent and secret pathology.
