Illinois grapples with rise in sports gambling problems as bets hit $1 billion a month
CHICAGO — The safest bet before Sunday’s Super Bowl is that there would be millions of dollars spent gambling in Illinois. Wagers placed with the state’s sports gambling industry soared in 2022, with gamblers betting nearly $10 billion and casinos raking in $800 million in revenue from gamblers’ aggregate losses.
Bets on the big game are fun entertainment for many, but the growing stakes go beyond money: Three years into legalization, sports gambling problems are also on the rise.
Problem-gambling therapists, researchers and long-term Gamblers Anonymous members told the Chicago Tribune they are seeing a jump in the number of people seeking treatment for sports gambling problems. The struggle seems to hit young men under 35 years old particularly hard and is robbing them not just of money, front-line workers say, but of connection, time and hope.
“If we don’t address it really quickly, we’re going to have some tragedies,” said Elizabeth Thielen, senior director of Lake County’s Nicasa Behavioral Health Services.
Illinoisans bet $1 billion on sports for the first time in October, then did it again in November and December, state data shows. The legalization of sports gambling generated more than $142 million in tax revenue last year from lost bets and sportsbook licenses, much of it earmarked for the state’s infrastructure-focused Capital Projects Fund.
But it has also led to a surge in sports gambling’s accessibility and acceptability. The practice quickly has become a commonplace part of sports culture. Commercials flaunting “risk-free” bets now flood televised sports games and social media sites. Legal bettingand . “Bet tenders” roam some Chicago bars, nudging people to make accounts and place wagers on the now-omnipresent smartphone betting apps.
