The National Center for Responsible Gaming is raising funds to commission a study on the impact of sports wagering expansion in the U.S.
Christine Reilly, senior research director at the center, outlined its plan for a study Thursday at Caesars Palace during the International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking. Reilly was participating in a panel discussion on the National Gambling Impact Study, authorized by Congress and released 20 years ago.
Reilly said after the Supreme Court in May 2018 struck down a federal law banning single-game sports wagering, the center wanted to do a study on whether the activity will create problem gambling. Sports betting is now legal in eight states and more are on the way
“We’ve been working on this for more than a year and we’re finding there are concerns from all corners from operators to even sports (television) networks,” Reilly said. “They all know they need to do something to be good corporate citizens. We are hoping they would contribute to this cause and fund research on this.”
The center will raise about $400,000 for the study that is expected to be two years at a minimum but likely to go longer. A grant has yet to be awarded.
As states were considering passing sports wagering bills, the center urged parties to minimize problem gambling by dedicating funds to prevent and treat it. The group even released guidelines in 2018 to provide a framework for legislators.
“Our main focus in gambling disorder,” Reilly said of the planned study. “The question whenever you have a new form of gambling is that you have a novelty effect and people who develop a problem by getting caught up in it because they’re new to it. Over time, the adaption theory is the community adjusts to the new gambling.”
Reilly said there hasn’t been a lot of sports gambling research compared to other forms of gaming. There’s been some research on the impact of online sports wagering in Europe, she said.
“It’s because it hasn’t been legal in the U.S. for the most part,” Reilly said. “The study is about answering the question will this new form of gambling increase rates of problem gambling.”
Another of the panelists, Kate Spilde, chair of the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at San Diego State University, worked for the National Gambling Impact Study Commission 20 years ago. She worried the proliferation of sports wagering could lead to another commission if problem sports betting because an issue.
That two decade-old study was political in nature but had minimal impact on the gaming industry, but Spilde said it’s possible Congress could be moved to oversight if a study uncovers a problem and possible federal regulation, she said.
“It’s always a concern when there’s expansion without a deliberate plan,” Spilde said. “That’s what the last commission was called for when states were expanding lotteries and tribes expanding gambling and commercial expansion. Twenty years later people don’t even remember this report and somebody in Congress thinks they have a new idea and all this sports gambling is happening quickly and we haven’t looked at it to see if there is a plan. You can see how that could possible turn.”
The 1999 report cast aspersions on internet gambling and its future impact on society and wanted it banned, according to Roger Gros, the panel moderator and publisher of Global Gaming Business. That fight is still playing out today with some fearing the Department of Justice could crack down on Internet and mobile wagering even within a state.
There were partial results released at the Las Vegas conference of an ongoing study on problem sports betting conducted at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. It showed that sports bettors “believe that gambling is part of their identity and are motivated through monetary gain and intellectual challenge.”
The study said sports bettors are more prone to problem gambling and the harms that come from that.
“They bet more money, are more impulsive and are more motivated by monetary gain and intellectual challenge,” the study said.
Researchers said the study looked at parlay sports betting since single-game wagering isn’t legal.
