A ClickOnDetroit health segment aired Oct. 21 warned of major mental-health concerns linked to increased online sports-betting use, as basketball season began and betting advertisements became more prominent on television and social media. The report described online wagering as an increasingly popular pastime that can be a fun hobby for some people but an unhealthy habit for others.
The available account of the segment, published by PlayMichigan, did not identify the study ClickOnDetroit discussed. It also did not specify which mental-health conditions were examined or how researchers measured the reported relationship. The segment’s reported association therefore does not establish that online sports betting caused mental-health problems.
Separately, a study published online in JAMA Psychiatry on Oct. 14 found that state legalization of online sports betting was associated with increased treatment for depression and anxiety. That study cannot be confirmed as the research referenced in the ClickOnDetroit segment, because the available account did not identify the study discussed.
Medscape reported that the JAMA Psychiatry analysis examined commercial insurance claims from 2016 through 2023, covering nearly 62 million adult enrollee-years. It compared 22 states that legalized online sports betting between 2018 and 2022 with 13 states that had not legalized sports betting by the end of 2023, using a difference-in-differences method designed to account for baseline treatment patterns and broader changes over time.
After legalization, men and women were more likely to fill antidepressant and antianxiety prescriptions and to have outpatient visits for depression and anxiety. The relative increases ranged from about 5% to 7%, with results generally more consistent among men. The gaps in prescription use between states with and without online betting generally widened several years after legalization.
The analysis found no significant increase in treatment for substance-use disorders, emergency-department visits or hospitalizations for depression, anxiety or substance-use disorders. Its authors said the delayed pattern could reflect a lag between problem gambling and seeking treatment, but also noted that increased awareness of resources might lead people with pre-existing untreated conditions to seek care.
The claims data could not establish whether people receiving mental-health treatment had personally bet on sports, and the study covered only adults with employer-sponsored insurance. By 2026, online sports betting had been legalized in 31 states, following the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for states to authorize sports wagering.
Michigan’s Problem Gambling Helpline is available around the clock at 1-800-GAMBLER.
