“The Mental Health Impact of Sports Betting,” by assistant professors of economics Cody Couture and Jeffrey Cross, and Steven Wu, the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics, appears in the October issue of Elsevier's Economic Letters.
In their paper, the authors examine the impact of gambling on mental health and present causal evidence from a study conducted using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a nationally representative survey conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study found that “the legalization of gambling across the United States has led to increased access to gambling, particularly sports betting, which has different effects on the mental health of residents in each state.”
The study found that increased access to legalized gambling as a new form of entertainment “improved the mental health of young men aged 18 to 24.”
The study also found that married men aged 30 to 34 “would experience a significant decline in[mental health]following the legalization of gambling, possibly due to the added stress of being financially responsible for others.” The team noted that the study “found no significant effects among women.”
