Monday, January 30, 2023
WOSU
Ohio counselors are concerned that the legalization of sports betting in the state at the start of 2023 puts college students at a higher risk for problem gambling. A conference presentation from Ohio for Responsible Gambling in 2019 reported young adults ages 18 to 24 are most at risk of developing problem gambling. College students are especially susceptible to problem gambling related to sports betting because of the role athletics plays in college life, said Bill Newberry, a problem gambling counselor at Townhall II, a counseling office in Kent. “Especially with the upcoming March Madness, there’s a lot of betting that goes on around that, even before it was legalized,” Newberry said.