Sports Betting, Problem Gambling, And Suicide: Are Operators Doing Enough?

Researchers have consistently found that problem gamblers have a higher suicide rate than virtually any other group with addictive behavior.

“If you’re experiencing gambling behaviors problematically, your risk of thinking about suicide and attempting suicide are hugely elevated, and that can’t all be explained by other things,” said Heather Wardle of the University of Glasgow, one of the UK’s leading problem gambling researchers. “There is a mechanism in there for gambling to specifically heighten these things. We don’t know exactly how this works, but there is a role that cannot be diminished.”

In short: While research has shown a link between problem gambling and suicidal ideation, no one has yet cracked the code as to what, exactly, is going on in the mind of someone who believes they have reached a point of no return.

“We specifically are looking to see if there is something else that explains this, like substance abuse, or mental health disorders, or impulsivity, or anything that kind of explains this relationship,” Wardle said. “But even when you take those things into account, the relationship between problem gambling and suicide sits and it’s really strong. We’ve got this kind of statistical evidence, but also have this really strong network of people affected by gambling-related suicides, essentially the parents of — and it’s usually — young men. We have the empirical statistical evidence and the lived experience evidence.”

Source: https://www.usbets.com/sports-betting-problem-gambling-suicide/