Legal Sports Betting Linked to Surge in Emergency Room Visits
A study in Ontario found that emergency department visits for gambling problems more than doubled after single-event sports betting was legalized in 2022, especially among men aged 10-44.
A recent Ontario study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reports that emergency department visits for gambling-related disorders surged by 154% after the province legalized online betting on single sports events in 2022. The spike was concentrated among men aged 10-44, many of whom arrived with major depression, suicidal thoughts, or co-occurring substance-abuse diagnoses that doctors attributed to gambling.
Hospitalizations followed nearly one-third of these visits. Parallel research by the same team found a 200% increase in calls to ConnexOntario, the province’s 24-hour mental-health helpline, again primarily from males aged 15-44. The authors caution that these data signal a growing health burden that may extend beyond the ER, highlighting financial distress, family conflict, and worsening mental health.
They note the lack of systematic monitoring in Canada, contrasting it with the extensive tracking funded after cannabis legalization. Similar patterns are emerging in the United States, where treatment providers report a twofold rise in young adults seeking help for gambling disorder since 2024.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that expanding legal sports betting may create a hidden public-health crisis, especially for young men.
In this story
