How Gen Z is falling victim to the lure of sports betting

The dopamine hit of winning is something everyone understands, but the feeling of winning on a sports bet is a rush many members of my generation (Gen Z) know all too well.

For many students what starts as casual fun on sports betting apps quickly escalates into a serious problem — one they may not even recognize until it’s too late.

These days it doesn’t matter if it’s college basketball, the Olympics, or speculation on the football season, sports talk with my friends inevitably goes to betting.

For many college students, placing their first sports bet on a college football game is just another way to feel connected to friends. It’s easy to just throw in five bucks here or ten bucks there because it feels harmless.

But betting on one game can snowball and before long, you end up placing larger wagers, hoping to recover previous losses — a pattern called “chasing the loss.”

To understand why this generation differs from previous generations, you have to understand just how socially acceptable we have allowed the culture of betting to become.

Advertisements for betting apps and sports books are on every platform plausible with celebrities like Kevin Hart selling the product.

With streaming and the creation of the “decabox,” (ability to have 10 channels simultaneously playing) the way we consume sports is different. Gone are the days of channel flipping during commercials.

One recent evening I watched my App State Mountaineers play at the same time as I watched evening MLB games, and the Jets take on the Patriots in the NFL. This means that the passive exposure to betting ads is exponential.

Notice how much broadcasters will pause to update viewers on betting odds and prop lines on the game you are watching and others instead of constant play-by-play coverage.

Even College Gameday will see Pat McAfee and the gang pause from analysis to highlight the odds for player prop bets, teams favored to win, and potential upsets.

With the rise of influencers on TikTok and Instagram, companies like FanDuel and DraftKings are targeting Gen Z through social media campaigns that normalize betting as part of everyday sports consumption.

Scrolling through TikTok, one can easily find popular influencers and celebrities sharing stories of their latest bets or promoting odds boosts and free bets. These promotions are designed to lure users in with the promise of easy money.

Gen Z is also a generation that has grown up on video games filled with microtransactions like “loot boxes” in popular titles like FIFA Soccer and Fortnite.

Loot boxes allow players to pay real or in-game currency for randomized virtual rewards, so if a player desires a certain item, they cannot purchase it directly and instead have to continue buying loot boxes until they randomly receive the item.

This normalization of gambling-like behavior during adolescence makes sports betting apps seem familiar, even when real money is involved.

The fact that 67% of Gen Z bettors view sports betting as a social activity amplifies the likelihood that young people will engage in riskier behaviors over time.

Sports betting has been glamorized by celebrities and influencers alike, often portraying it as a path to get rich quickly. But as many in Gen Z discover, the reality is far from glamorous.

What people think is, “Oh I’ll just win that money back in no time,” when one parley lands ends up being a hole that gets deeper and deeper.

North Carolina has collected over $63 million in tax revenue since sports betting went live on March 11. That means sports betting in NC is well on its way to blowing past the estimated $64 million economists originally estimated.

This revenue goes into the State’s general fund to support overall spending, and the college athletic departments of UNC system schools, and it also provides funding and equipment to youth programs.

Although some of this revenue is also allocated to gambling addiction programs, it’s uncertain whether these resources are keeping up with the rising number of young bettors who may already be experiencing addiction.

States across the U.S. are grappling with the fine line between benefiting from the lucrative sports betting market and addressing the potential for harm, particularly among young adults.

One way to combat this growing issue is to introduce the psychology of gambling in financial literacy courses in high schools teaching students the inherent risks of gambling and managing their finances responsibly.

Additionally, gambling platforms need to use more tools to minimize addictive tendencies, such as betting limits, cooling-off periods, and easy access to addiction resources.

Another avenue that could protect Gen Z from the risks of sports betting is through stricter advertising guidelines.

Influencers, social media ads, and sports broadcasters should be far more transparent about the risks of gambling, and companies should be held accountable for targeting vulnerable users, especially minors.

Many European Union countries have already banned loot boxes in video games for their resemblance to gambling, setting a precedent that could extend to how sports betting is marketed to younger audiences.

For Gen Z, the convenience of mobile apps combined with the excitement of sports betting makes it easy to get caught up in the game, but the consequences can be severe.

To my peers, I offer a simple warning: If you are going to bet know your limits because once you start chasing wins, it’s hard to stop.

The future of sports betting for Gen Z will depend on how quickly we can recognize the problem and take action. Otherwise, what began as harmless fun could turn into a lifetime of financial insecurity.