Sports Betting Puts Fans—and Sports—at Risk

Apr 24, 2025 | Sports

Our Take

It’s no surprise that Gen Z is the most at risk when it comes to sports betting addictions—after all, they’ve grown up in a fully-digital era and are more in tune with the online world than anyone else. After years of fighting for legalization of sports betting, we as a society now need to ask: is sports betting becoming too integrated in our lives? It’s virtually impossible to watch a game without mention of or allusion to sports betting, and hours and hours of television each week are devoted to breaking down bets on upcoming games.

While regulations like age limits and options to set betting limits purport to curb addiction, more people are getting hooked. Will the proliferation of betting amongst Gen Z trickle down to Gen Alpha when (or before) they reach legal gambling age? Not to mention the fact that the vast majority of collegiate and professional athletes themselves are members of Gen Z—how long until we see betting-related corruption undermine our favorite sports?

Source Summary

March Madness has just wrapped up, and with it, the annual frenzy of fans placing their bets across the 67 matchups of the tournament. Ahead of the tournament, Intuit Credit Karma commissioned a study to shed light on the addictive nature of sports betting. The report highlights just how financially-compromising and mentally-draining the landscape has become.

With mobile apps that make it incredibly easy to place bets, and digital sportsbooks pumping billions of dollars into marketing, millions of Americans have been sucked into the phenomenon, with many facing significant losses. Nearly a quarter of the people surveyed (1,000 respondents engaged in sports betting) admitted to being addicts, and 48% experienced some kind of mental health issue as a result of their betting habits. The most at risk population? Gen Z, of which 37% of respondents reported being addicted.

[Fast Company ]