Jason discovered in online games a practical way to bet money: he did not have to justify to his family where he had been, or with whom, and he could do the same as in the casino from his cell phone, with a single click, according to what he told the Informative website Vice News.
When online gambling started, in the coronavirus pandemic, it was still illegal in Illinois.
But Jason assures that he did not know if what he did was prohibited because he never had to go through any bureaucratic procedure, it was enough to click.
The growing prevalence of gambling in society helped him legitimize his addiction to himself, he says, even though he gambled every day, even at three in the morning while his children slept.
"I felt like I had to gamble all the time," he
told Vice News.
Last May he admitted he had a problem and joined Gamblers Anonymous.
But by then he had already spent "a couple of hundred thousand dollars" on the bets.
[More states approve online sports betting. But experts warn of social costs]
In 2001, only nine states allowed gambling, but now more than 20 states have casinos.
And the same has happened with online sports betting: they are legal in 21 states.
Do you like to gamble?
Expert teaches how to recognize gambling addiction and avoid a ruin
April 20, 202206:41
Cindi Meyer, a fellow at the Oxford Treatment Center in Mississippi, says she's seen a dramatic increase in the number of young people with gambling problems coming to meetings since online sports betting was legalized in Illinois three years ago.
According to a survey by the National Council on Problem Gambling, more than 40% of people between the ages of 18 and 44 played online games in 2021, compared to 21% of people between the ages of 45 and 54.
“They have access to it 24/7 in the palm of their hands
,” Meyer said, “the temptation is always there.
You can stay away from casinos and racetracks, but you can't stop using your phone."
In January, the first month mobile sports betting was legalized in New York, people wagered a record $1.6 billion online, more than any other state in its opening month, Vice News reports.
Digital gambling is increasingly worrying experts.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), addiction to online gambling, along with video games, generate persistent or recurrent behavioral disorders that can cause significant personal and family deterioration.
And it is a problem that crosses borders.
In Spain, a 22-year-old man told the social network Twitter that he was a gambler and it went viral: “Hello, I'm 22 years old and I suffer from a disease called gambling.
Years ago I started betting for laughs and I have ended up going bankrupt several times, playing money that I shouldn't have and losing close to 5 figures in this time, as well as failing people who didn't deserve it.
The young Spaniard began playing with his friends at the age of 15 in gambling establishments in Cehegín, a Spanish town of 15,000 inhabitants, and believed that he could grow his money with online bets, according to local media reports.
"In these three years I have made bets of 100 euros but I have only won twice," he said.
"You end up spending twice as much to make up for what you lost," he added.
He says that he spent almost all of a month's salary in just five days.
He even asked her mom for money to pay her apartment rent which he spent on gambling.
"I cheated on my mother," he laments.
