College basketball’s pending March Madness is a boon for sports betting, but the state recently earned a D grade on an online gambling safety report card from a nonprofit focusing on addiction.
The below-average mark is from the Center for Addiction Science, Policy and Research, which also calculates that roughly $378 million leaves Arizona each year due to online sports betting.
Executive Director Nicholas Reville says there is a lack of bankruptcy and addiction safeguards, and there should be public health protections like those for alcohol and tobacco.
“So these apps are particularly damaging to young men, who are much more likely to use them, who are often running through their life savings at the start of their career,” Reville said
The Arizona Department of Gaming says it offers a number of free treatment resources, such as a hotline, outpatient services and financial counseling. Peer support counseling will be available later this spring.
Arizona collected more than $165 million in tax revenue from event wagering in about four-and-a-half years, according to the most recent figures released in December.
“And so these online gambling apps are really just a money vacuum that is subtracting money from the state economy. And that is lowering tax receipts in other areas,” Reville said.
Reville also said there are definable signs of gambling addiction, and companies should be barred from continuing to provide bets to people showing them.
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