Legalized sports betting: gambling issues increase among students

Jason Craig
Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:35:23 +0000
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Experts say that students are having increasingly more issues with gambling then other age groups. Graphic: Jason Craig | Lantern Reporter

Calls to a Columbus-based addiction counseling service’s helpline have more than doubled less than a year after sports betting was made legal in Ohio.

“It was around 500 calls monthly to about 1,500 calls for a couple months, in the beginning of 2023,” said Abdulla Mahmood, a counselor and administrative coordinator of the gambling program at Maryhaven, an addiction treatment center. “There was a great number of people that were seeking help in just a short amount of time.”

Before January 2023, Ohioans who wanted to legally place a sports bet were required to travel out of state. Now, Mahmood said, “the drug is in your pocket.”

Ohio State students are a prime demographic for sports betting according to Mahmood, and some students are not afraid to bet big. Nicholas Peters, a third-year in communication, recalled watching his roommates struggle with their sports betting routines.?

“The OSU vs. Indiana game, it was hard to watch because you know what’s at stake,” Peters said. “They had hundreds of dollars of money on the game that OSU would win, and they lost.”

Peters said even before the Indiana game, his friends promised they wouldn’t bet again. Still? the loss did not deter his friends for long before they returned to the habit.

“They all swore to not bet again. Then we played [Indiana] in the Big Ten Championship. So, they bet again, it always will bring you back,” Peters said.?

Mahmood said university-aged gamblers are especially prone to what he described as a “telescoping effect.”

Someone in their 40s may gamble habitually for a few years, or even decades, without much issue. For college students, it is increasingly common to spiral into a dangerous addiction within weeks or months, Mahmood said.?

“The onset of problems is a lot quicker than opposed to other age groups,” Mahmood said. “Then, hopefully, you can get help quicker as well due to the onset of problems that happen so quickly.”

Peters also said some people are willing enough to travel out-of-state to place bets that are illegal in Ohio Mahmood said he has patients younger than 21 who travel to Kentucky where the legal gambling age is 18.?

Mahmood said that common entry points to gambling are family, fraternities and friend groups. He also mentioned that encouragement from sports betting app advertisements in podcasts and tv programs aimed towards demographics of younger listeners and watchers fan the flame.?

Even though gambling can often begin as a social activity, it doesn’t often stay that way, Mahmood said.?

“What I have seen is that eventually you become isolated. It stops becoming a social activity, and then gets into being actively done in isolation,” Mahmood said.?

Isolation, deceiving family and friends on wellness, whereabouts, and funds are key signs to a gambling addiction.?

Ohio State’s student wellness center’s page about wellness education and resources lists out some possible resources, including Gambler’s Anonymous meetings.?

For anyone struggling with gambling, the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-589-9966 and the National Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET.?