It’s no secret that money talks in sports. Between contracts, sponsorships and TV deals, money is more prominent in sports than it’s ever been.
It could be argued that no single industry has profited more from this monetary surge than the sports gambling industry, which has skyrocketed over the last five years, and the exposure and popularity has resulted in a boom of college students engaging in gambling activity.
The truth is sports books know what they’re doing; they understand the addictive nature of sports gambling. They are okay giving new users hundreds of dollars because they know that many will inevitably give it back — and in most cases much more.
Results from a survey conducted by the NCAA in 2023 showed that nearly 60 percent of 18-to-22-year-olds had participated in sports betting, with some experiencing financial distress, academic struggles and even mental health crises as a result.
But why? What hooks college students and keeps them coming back despite financial, academic and mental struggles?
According to a study conducted by Neil Schwartz, the president of SBRnet, the number of fans placing bets on sports has increased from over 23 million to 34 million in 2023, which is nearly a 50 percent increase since 2020.
The number of gamblers has undoubtably been because leagues continue to pour money into the industry, which has resulted in a viewing experience where exposure to gambling is at an all-time high.
A study completed by the University of Bristol found that hockey fans were exposed to gambling logos and ads at an average of 3.5 times per minute during the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, which increased to once every 13 seconds over the course of one game.
Although it starts with increased exposure and the normalization of gambling beginning at younger ages, there is a psychological aspect that needs to be examined.
When the part of our brain that controls impulse decision-making is still developing, 18-to-22-year-olds are easier to influence.
The same part of the brain that makes college students susceptible to drug and alcohol use is the same reason they are drawn to sports gambling. This doesn’t mean that every college student who gambles will get addicted, but it does help explain why it’s so appealing.
The ease of access to the landscape of sports gambling is what attracts many college students. You might be saying “Wait a second, I thought the legal gambling age is 21 years old and over. How can 18-to-20-year-olds gamble on sports?”
Well, you would be correct. The legal gambling age in many states across the nation is 21 years old, but some daily fantasy sports applications allow users aged 18 and older to bet on specific player performances rather than traditional game outcomes.
As soon as I turned 18 years old, I signed up for nearly every daily fantasy app I could. All it took was an email, a password and a picture of my ID. In in five minutes, I was given access to a whole world of gambling I’d never experienced. When I turned 21, sportsbook promotions like FanDuel’s current “Bet $5, Get $300,” made sports gambling even easier.
“Once I turned 18 and got to college, I downloaded every app and took advantage of the promos. But eventually it got to the point where it wasn’t even about the free bets. It got to the point where it was hard to watch sports without having money on it. Everyone around me was doing it, which made it hard to stop even when I was losing money,” an anonymous UCCS student said.
When asked if sports gambling had any effect on his mental health, the student said the losses outweighed the wins and there was no win that would be enough.
“I couldn’t even focus on the wins because I was so caught up in the losses. But then eventually it flipped and got to the point where I was numb to the losses and excited about any win that I could get. So that’s when I realized that I needed to quit because a couple hundred-dollar loss meant nothing to me,” the student said.
Another reason college students are particularly susceptible to sports gambling is the mindset that sports gambling is a reliable source of income. It’s really no different from any other get-rich-quick scheme: the promise of quick money and little effort. However, I find that to be fading in this generation.
The often-false notion that you could be the big winner is enough for most students to at least give it a try, but the dark truth behind sports gambling is that few that go in win in the long run.
Not everyone is going to get addicted, but we need to start viewing it as something we can get addicted to. There’s no denying that it makes sports more fun to watch, but the mental and financial damage often outweighs that fun experience.
So, before you get caught up in sports gambling, know the damage it could cause, set limits, do it responsibly and control it before it controls you
Kalshi is one of the most commonly used betting apps. Picture by Fortune.