Predicting Sports

So if sports betting isn’t the biggest public health crisis, I’d bet it will be. This chart, profiling the 32% of 2,396 student athletes who developed addictions to betting after leaving sports, suggests we should have seen it coming. But the good news is there’s a response emerging. Take Illinois, where the Substance Use Disorder Act has added gambling disorders to the law the governor signed in July, requiring the state to provide counseling, referral and other support services for people with gambling disorders. In my opinion, one of the solutions is recasting how we structure sports from 4th grade to 12th. That group, at least a portion of them, clearly have suffered from misaligned incentives around sports for kids. Case in point, a cohort of 2,396 student athletes on the effects of youth sports found themselves with sports betting addictions and 6-figure costs to treat them. 32% had adverse health outcomes from playing youth sports with nearly half developing a sports betting addiction at a cost sometimes exceeding $100K.  The results and some solutions will be discussed on our call Oct. 22, When Youth Sports Investment Collides With Healthcare, And What To Do About It. Reach out for details.