The Harm
Most people who gamble never develop a serious problem. Some do, and the damage reaches their money, their families, and their health. Here is what the research shows.
Money
Researchers have studied what happens to people's finances after sports betting becomes legal and easy to do on a phone. Two large studies using credit records found the same pattern.
After sports betting became legal, late payments on debt rose in the affected counties. The researchers estimate that among the roughly 3% of people who start betting, late payments rose by about 10 percentage points, which is roughly double the usual rate. The increase was driven by people under 40. For them, credit card delinquencies rose about 1 percentage point and auto loan delinquencies about 0.55 percentage points.
Where online sports betting became available, bankruptcy filings rose about 10% and the amount of debt sent to collections rose about 7.5%. The researchers estimate that adds up to roughly 30,000 more bankruptcies a year nationwide. The damage was concentrated among people with credit scores under 600, whose scores fell about 11 points on average.
What these studies don't show: they track whole populations, not individual bettors, so the numbers describe the community effect, and the effect on bettors themselves is larger. They also don't prove why each person fell behind. But two different research teams, using different data, point in the same direction.
Relationships and family
Gambling problems rarely stay with one person.
- A 2017 study of more than 5,000 Australian adults found that a typical person with a gambling problem affects about six other people. Partners and spouses were most often affected, followed by children and close friends.
- The harms to those people included relationship and money problems, mental and physical health problems, and, for children, neglect.
- A 2016 review of research found that among people with gambling problems, about 38% reported experiencing physical violence from a partner and about 37% reported committing it. That review was based on only four studies for each figure, so treat the exact numbers with caution. It shows a link, not that gambling causes violence.
If someone close to you is gambling, you are not imagining the strain, and you can call 1-800-GAMBLER for yourself, not only for them.
Mental health
This is the part many people don't expect.
- In New Jersey's own 2023 prevalence study (Rutgers University, for the Division of Gaming Enforcement), about 28% of high-risk problem gamblers reported suicidal thoughts, about 20% reported a suicide attempt, and about 26% reported self-injury without suicidal intent.
- A 2023 review pooling 39 studies found that about 31% of people with gambling disorder had experienced suicidal thoughts and about 16% had made an attempt. Suicidal thoughts were linked with debt, depression, and alcohol problems.
These numbers describe a risk, not a certainty, and the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey says problem gambling is treatable. If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 any time, or call 911 in an emergency.
Chasing losses and raising the bet
Two of the nine official symptoms of gambling disorder are about exactly this. The American Psychiatric Association's criteria (DSM-5) list: "Needs to gamble with increasing amounts of money to achieve the desired excitement" and "After losing money gambling, often returns another day to get even (otherwise known as 'chasing one's losses')." Four or more symptoms within 12 months is the threshold for a diagnosis. It is listed as a symptom of an illness, not as a character flaw.
- It's common. In a 2014 survey of 10,838 internet gamblers from 96 countries (Gainsbury and colleagues, Psychiatry Research), more than one in four said they would likely chase losses. Those who did held more mistaken beliefs about how gambling works, and spent more time and money. Casino-game players chased more than poker players did.
- It shows up in the data. A 2024 study in Scientific Reports (Zhang, Clark, and colleagues) looked at about 1.9 million real online bets from 2,000 gamblers. People raised their next bet after a fresh loss, and also after wins. After larger total losses over a session, bets got smaller.
How this is calculated
$100 × 5.26% = $5.26, and $1,000 × 5.26% = $52.60. These are averages over many bets. The house edge applies to every dollar wagered, and raising your bets means wagering more dollars.
The math doesn't know you're behind. Each spin, hand, or pull is independent of the last, so a loss never makes the next win more likely. Getting back to even requires winning, and the odds on the next bet are exactly what they were before. The house edge applies to every extra dollar, so a bigger bet only adds to the expected loss.
Warning signs that are easy to miss
Most lists of warning signs start with money. Many of the earliest signs are not about money at all. The American Psychiatric Association's list of gambling disorder symptoms is a good place to start, and four or more in a year is the threshold for a diagnosis. Three patterns stand out, each with research behind it.
Isolation and gambling feed each other. A Bet Know More UK summary of the research describes the link as running both ways: loneliness can push people toward gambling, and gambling deepens loneliness through hidden lies, broken promises, and shame. It cites Australian research (Gill and McQuade, 2012) finding loneliness "plays a primary and important role" in problem gambling, and UK research (John and colleagues, 2019) finding people with the most problematic gambling were more likely to feel lonely and had smaller support networks. The American Psychiatric Association lists "lying to hide the extent of gambling involvement" and "losing important opportunities such as a job or school achievements or close relationships" as symptoms.
Three of the symptoms on that list are about mood: "gambling when trying to escape from problems or negative mood or stress," "often gambling when feeling distressed," and "restlessness or irritability when trying to cut down or stop." A study in European Addiction Research found that difficulty regulating emotions helps explain the link between psychological distress and problem gambling. The pattern is gambling as the way to get from a bad feeling to a calmer one, and feeling on edge when you can't.
In a 2018 online survey of 258 U.S. gamblers (Tabri, Wohl, Milyavskaya, and Werner), perfectionism was linked to more severe gambling problems, and the link ran through tying self-worth to financial success. The authors suggest treatment providers pay attention to perfectionistic tendencies. This was one survey of self-selected adults and shows an association, not that perfectionism causes gambling problems.
Other symptoms on the list: frequent thoughts about gambling, needing larger bets for the same excitement, repeated failed attempts to cut back, trying to get even after a loss, and relying on others to cover money problems caused by gambling. None of these needs a big loss to be present.
Who is most at risk in New Jersey
The same Rutgers study (3,512 NJ adults, surveyed December 2020 to April 2021) found that risk is not spread evenly. About 5.6% of all adults were in the "high-risk" group, which the researchers say matches gambling disorder in other studies. That is about three times the national rate, but it is down from 6.3% in 2017. Within the survey:
View as table
| Group | What the report found | Report table |
|---|---|---|
| People who bet on sports | About 35% were high-risk | Table 41 |
| People who gamble both online and in person | More than half had gambling problems (32.1%) or probable gambling disorder (19.9%) | Table 28 |
| Ages 18 to 24 | About 19% were high-risk | Table 31 |
People who gamble both online and in person had the highest rates in the study: more than half had gambling problems (32.1%) or probable gambling disorder (19.9%), per Table 28.
The more types of gambling a person did, and the more often, the greater the risk. This shows an association. It does not prove that betting caused every problem, since people who already struggle may also bet on more things. Note that the 18 to 24 group includes people under NJ's legal gambling age of 21 for most forms of gambling.
Sources
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Sports Betting Is Everywhere, Especially on Credit Reports (March 25, 2026)
- Hollenbeck, Larsen, and Proserpio: The Financial Consequences of Legalized Sports Gambling
- Goodwin, Browne, Rockloff, and Rose (2017): A typical problem gambler affects six others, International Gambling Studies
- Dowling et al. (2016): Problem gambling and intimate partner violence, a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Suicidal Behaviors and Associated Factors Among Individuals with Gambling Disorders: A Meta-Analysis, Journal of Gambling Studies (2023)
- DSM-5 criteria for gambling disorder (NCBI Bookshelf)
- Gainsbury, Suhonen, and Saastamoinen (2014): Chasing losses in online poker and casino games, Psychiatry Research 217(3)
- Zhang, Rights, Deng, Lesch, and Clark (2024): Within-session chasing of losses and wins in an online eCasino, Scientific Reports
- American Psychiatric Association: What is gambling disorder? (symptoms)
- Bet Know More UK: Loneliness and gambling (summarizing Gill and McQuade 2012; John et al. 2019)
- GREO Evidence Centre: Perfectionism and gambling (Tabri, Wohl, Milyavskaya, and Werner, 2018)
- Emotion (Dys)Regulation Mediates the Link between Psychological Distress and Problem Gambling, European Addiction Research
- Rutgers Center for Gambling Studies: The Prevalence of Online and Land-Based Gambling in New Jersey (2023), Tables 28, 31, 39, 41
Last checked: October 1, 2026. This page is general information, not medical advice. Percentages are as reported in each study.
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