Online sports betting is driving some young men to binge drink more than ever, a new study finds. The results add to the mounting evidence that to the legalization of online sports gambling and apps could “have spillover effects beyond gambling itself,” says Keshar Ghimire, the study’s senior author and an economist at the University of Cincinnati.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports gambling in 2018, the industry has exploded. Americans wagered nearly $41 billion on sports betting in the first quarter of 2025 alone, according to one estimate. At its epicenter is young men: a 2024 U.S. survey found that one in four men aged 30 or younger gamble on sports online. And as the market has grown, scientists and public health advocates have become increasingly alarmed that young men who participate in sports betting may be at a heightened risk of negative physical and mental health consequences.
In the new study, Ghimire and his co-author found that men with a history of binge drinking—defined for men in the study as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting—had a 10 percent increase in the frequency of binge drinking, on average, after online sports betting became legal in their state.
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Gambling apps or websites are designed to make it hard to click away, and bars are popular settings for watching sports. These factors may combine to put men at increased risk.
“Online sports betting differs from traditional gambling because it is immediate, continuous, and easily accessible through smartphones,” Ghimire says. “That accessibility may make it easier for gambling to occur in settings where alcohol consumption is already common, such as watching live sports.”
He adds, however, that the research “identifies the causal link but does not directly test the behavioral mechanisms behind it.”
Importantly, the study relies on participants self-reporting on how much they drink. That “could mean that the true level of consumption—and possibly the magnitude of the increase—is somewhat higher than what appears in the survey data,” Ghimire says.
Ultimately, Ghimire says the study could help local policymakers target responsible gambling messaging at young men. Currently, online sports betting is legal in 31 states and Washington, D.C.
