Gambling Addiction – Taking the Fantasy out of Fantasy Football
ORLANDO — He liked to bet big, wagering tens of thousands of dollars in a sitting. He owned homes in four states but preferred staying in casino hotels, sometimes for weeks at a time, as he.
- I have won tens of thousands of pounds over the years and hardly ever quit while I was winning. I always pushed my luck further and further until I eventually lost everything. There's never a happy ending to gambling, it always ends in misery.
- Music Stars Who Have Lost Money Gambling. While she loved sports betting, it was her addiction to Baccarat that would cost her tens of thousands of dollars in just one table sitting.
Draft day is fast approaching for thousands of fantasy football leagues across the country. For millions of fantasy players, it’s the most anticipated day of the year. They obsess over statistics, map out draft strategies and try to predict which players will have breakout seasons.
For many Americans, fantasy football is a fun way to connect with family and friends while enjoying a sport they love. For others, it’s an activity that can trigger real life consequences. That’s because, as several studies have shown, daily fantasy sports players are more likely to have gambling problems than non-players. One of the reasons for that is player demographics. Fantasy players tend to be young, male and sports enthusiasts – each a group known to be at higher risk for problem gambling.
Actual cases of fantasy sports players with severe gambling problems have been documented and reported in national media, including:
Ten Thousands Place
- “Jay” who was in recovery from sports betting when he started playing fantasy sports and lost over $50,000. -Think Progress May 7, 2015
- Josh Adams who “lost $20,000 in daily fantasy games and tens of thousands more in illegal sports bets. His life, consumed by gambling, disintegrated to where he considered suicide.” -New York Times, November 22, 2015
- “Paul” who lost “between $60,000 to $65,000…mostly on credit cards.” -PBS Frontline, February, 2016
Fantasy football can really enhance the experience of being a fan – but if you’re worried that your hobby is getting out of control, don’t wait to get help. Visit BeforeYouBet.org to find information, education and treatment resources for problem gambling.
The amount of money people in America spent on gambling in 2016 was an estimated $116.9 billion, according to data from H2 Gambling Capital. That’s the amount won off of gamblers in areas including brick-and-mortar casinos, state lotteries and regulated online gaming sites.
The Economist first reported on the data, which showed that the U.S. is still by far the largest overall gambling market in the world. China was a distant second with an overall gambling market of $62.4 billion. About $30 billion of that comes from Macau.
Ten Thousand Shorts
The U.S. gambling sector has room for major growth. The American Gaming Association says that about $150 billion is wagered on sports (the handle) each year in the U.S., with nearly all of it coming through illegal channels. Traditional sports betting is only legal in Nevada, where bettors are now wagering about $4.5 billion each year.
Nevada casinos won about $220 million on those wagers last year.
There are efforts on Capitol Hill to legalize sports betting nationwide.
Silver State casinos won $11.26 billion from gamblers last year, a small uptick over 2015.
Online casino gaming is legal in just three U.S. states, but many more are still considering the activity. New York and Pennsylvania stand as the front runners to legalize internet casinos in 2017.
The size of the commercial casino market is worth about $40 billion annually, while tribal casinos win about $30 billion a year. The lottery is the next largest component of the U.S. gambling market, with annual sales in the tens of billions of dollars.
The popularity of the lottery has led to a handful of states bringing it to the internet.