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.
