Sports betting apps are ‘getting a new generation hooked’ on gambling, critics say
As nearly half of America prepares to gather to eat pizza and chicken wings and watch the Super Bowl featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, millions will place bets on the game using apps from companies like FanDuel, DraftKings and ESPN Bet.
While the legal betting age on apps varies between 18 and 21 in the 38 states that have legalized them since 2018, many underage fans will attempt to skirt age verification requirements by providing fake identification or an older family member’s financial information.
“Honestly, it’s almost like a hobby now. You bet on sports, when you go to your friend’s house and you’re watching a game,” Jacob Pollock, 20, a student at Northeastern University who began using apps to bet on sports in high school, told the Huntington News in May 2024. “You both have money on [the game] — maybe you’re rooting for the opposite teams and then it becomes intense. It’s just a thing that college students do. You get a big dopamine rush when you have it. It makes the game more entertaining.”
Simply put, there’s a lot of money at stake for companies looking to lure in new customers. Thanks to the popularity of sports betting apps, revenues for sports betting have gone from just shy of $430 million in 2018 to a staggering $11 billion in 2023, according to figures compiled by Statista. During Super Bowl weekend last year, GeoComply, a company that conducts age verification for betting apps, processed 122 million checks, roughly 22% more than the previous year.
“A big part of their model is engagement, increasing engagement with betting, and it’s a big part of the leagues’ model. The leagues want you to engage with sports. These things come together.”Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling
But not all betting apps are as strident when it comes to keeping minors off their platforms. Social gaming sites like Fliff and Chumba Casino, which are unregulated because users can bet for free, only require users to be 18 and to confirm their location.
“Young people who want to gamble underage but can’t access legal sites are starting on these social sports wagering sites that allow them to place bets for virtual money but then there are ways they can translate virtual money into real money,” said Lia Nower, director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University.
After downloading Fliff onto your phone, with just a few clicks, you’re in and the app gives you 5,000 “Fliff coins” to start gambling. Unlike apps like DraftKings, on which users must deposit actual money to begin betting, you can bet on professional and college games without shelling out your own money, but after the initial allotment is gone, you need to buy more coins. Virtual winnings can only later be cashed out for real dollars or gift cards if the user provides proof of ID, a verified address and a Social Security number.
On its website, Fliff warns customers not to “spend above your means.”
“Set a budget for your entertainment and stick to it,” the company says. “Only purchase Fliff Coins if you can afford to do so.”
Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), says he thinks the mass exposure of betting apps is having a “grooming effect” on young people. He told Yahoo News that he recently spoke with a group of high school juniors about gambling apps. “There were 40 of these 17-year-olds and I asked how many of them had a sports betting app on their phone and 36 of the 40 raised their hands,” he said.
“Many of them were probably illegal, either black market or gray market sites,” Whyte said, adding that even on sites that do screen users, many “likely signed up for accounts using their parents’ information.”
High school action
A 2024 survey conducted at Redwood High School in Larkspur, Calif., found that 74% of students said they had placed a sports bet using an online platform despite being underage. That squares with 2023 data from NCPG showing that between 60%-80% of high school students reported gambling money the previous year, and 4% to 6% of them will be at risk of developing a gambling problem.
Maeve Hickock, 18, of Durham, N.H., wrote a high school magazine article last year about the rise of sports betting apps among teens. “One kid I talked to mentioned that he couldn’t use the app anymore because he had spent so much money,” she told Yahoo News.
Hickok detailed how many of her classmates — mostly male athletes — began placing sports bets on Fliff at the start of the COVID pandemic.
“We were pretty isolated to begin my freshman year, and then when we returned to school, I noticed that people were using these apps at a high rate that I’d never seen before,” Hickok said, adding that conversations between classes regularly involved gambling.
Hickok said she also often heard about people figuring out ways to extract their winnings on Fliff despite being under 18. (Fliff did not respond to multiple requests requests for comment.)
“Taking a picture of your parent’s ID or using a fake ID has become normal,” she said.
To do research for her article, Hickock also joined the app.
“I bought 25,000 Fliff coins, or 5 dollars’ worth. As I sat on the couch placing a bet here and there my dad glances over my shoulder,” Hickok wrote in her piece. “He starts offering some insight even though he’s no more of a sports fanatic than I am. We start placing our bets for the Super Bowl, which was the upcoming weekend. Just like that, sports betting became a shared interest.”
That integration of sports gambling into the American living room is troubling, Nower said.
“Sports wagering has really been a game changer because not only is it tacitly sanctioned as harmless by broadcasters and athletes and sports leagues, but it’s also a family activity and something that parents are doing with under-age kids, not really realizing that this is priming them for potential problems down the road,” Nower said.
Hickok's classmate said the problems became severe when he turned 18 and upgraded from Fliff to DraftKings and promptly lost $1,000, a considerable sum at that point in his life.
“Targeted advertisements and enticing programs from sports betting companies are getting a new generation hooked.”Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut
“The value of real currency transitioned quickly for him and he didn’t realize how much money he was spending on apps like DraftKings because he was already trained to put fake money forward,” Hickok said, adding, “People get so excited about being able to legally gamble.”
For sports betting apps, as well as for leagues like the NFL, creating that excitement among users is key to their success.
“A big part of their model is engagement, increasing engagement with betting, and it’s a big part of the leagues’ model,” Whyte said. “The leagues want you to engage with sports. These things come together.”
In part, that’s why all gambling apps give you free tokens or credits when you sign up.
Data compiled by the NCPG shows that “the rate of gambling problems among sports bettors is at least twice as high as among gamblers in general.”
On Reddit, there are dozens of threads where people share personal stories about their own gambling addictions, often involving the use of sports betting apps.
“Ever since NYC allowed sports betting I have been constantly betting for the past year. Originally I was up 1.4k then I lost 8k by placing bets everyday. I was able to cut the 8k loss down to 4k but this last week I lost 8.2k and I’m now seriously depressed,” wrote one user, who identified as 24 years old (The user did not respond to a request for an interview).
Like most other sports betting apps, DraftKings advises customers to “Treat the money you lose as the cost of your entertainment,” and directs those who cannot stick to a budget to contact the NCPG.
The SAFE Bet Act
To counter what he sees as a growing threat posed by sports betting apps, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said in an email that he co-sponsored the SAFE Bet Act “to curb online sports books’ tactics that reel in vulnerable problem gamblers and kids and lead them down the dark path of addiction with far-reaching behavioral and mental health consequences.”
The legislation, which would regulate sports betting apps on the federal level, has several provisions intended to protect younger people, including a prohibition on sports betting ads between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m and an end to betting ads during live sporting events.
“Targeted advertisements and enticing programs from sports betting companies are getting a new generation hooked,” Blumenthal said in an email.
Stephen Miraglia, senior director of communications at DraftKings, believes that the criticism around sports betting advertising often lacks proper context.
“This is still a relatively new industry, so I think it’s the freshness of it that attracts attention,” Miraglia told Yahoo News. “We’re an official sportsbook of the NFL and the amount of advertising inventory we’re allowed to buy during games is subject to league-imposed limits.”
During a typical NFL game, Miraglia said, sportsbooks are allowed a maximum of five ads of the 60-70 that run during a broadcast.
“Customers want in-broadcast activity during a pregame show. They want real-time information about what Patrick Mahomes is going to do, or what Travis Kelce is going to do, or what your favorite basketball player is going to do.”Chris Jones, FanDuel vice president of communications
FanDuel, the world’s largest sports betting operator, told Yahoo News in an email that it does not comment on pending legislation such as the SAFE Bet Act. All of the big companies, including FanDuel and DraftKings, have policies in place to try to make sure minors aren’t using their products. In accordance with state laws, users typically provide a driver's license, Social Security number, bank account and a small initial deposit of between $5 and $10. The companies are also governed by federal money laundering standards, including the Bank Secrecy Act, the Wire Transfer Act and the Interstate Commerce Act. (Yahoo News's parent company also owns Yahoo Sports, which has a marketing affiliate relationship with BetMGM.)
On its website, FanDuel says it will report “anyone under the age of 21 years old” to law enforcement who uses their app for sports wagering.
Critics like Nower and Whyte, however, say such warnings do little to dissuade underage customers, especially when companies like FanDuel pay networks like TNT to air segments during popular shows like “Inside the NBA,” where hosts Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith share their picks for parlay bets on the app for things like how many points a star player will score in a game.
‘Exploits vulnerable kids’
In 2023, five college athletes in Iowa pleaded guilty to underage gambling on betting apps by registering with them using the identities of people over the age of 21. Johnson County public defender Franz Becker, who represented one of the students charged with tampering with records, cited the pregame ads as a factor.
“Every other word out of Terry Bradshaw’s mouth on Sunday mornings is an ad for sports gambling,” Becker told the Associated Press. “The state pretends to be shocked when they find out young men who spend all their time watching sports are betting on these games.”
In an email to Yahoo News, Becker said he believes it makes no sense to have a different legal age depending on state law.
“Sports wagering has really been a game changer because not only is it tacitly sanctioned as harmless by broadcasters and athletes and sports leagues, but it’s also a family activity and something that parents are doing with under-age kids, not really realizing that this is priming them for potential problems down the road.”Lia Nower, director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University.
“I think it exploits vulnerable kids,” he wrote, adding that advertising betting apps during games is “a system designed to drive every kid to fail.”
Chris Jones, vice president of communications at FanDuel, said that by paying network hosts to offer picks on pregame shows, the company is simply tailoring its advertising to meet demand.
“Customers want in-broadcast activity during a pre-game show,” Jones told Yahoo News. “They want real-time information about what Patrick Mahomes is going to do, or what Travis Kelce is going to do, or what your favorite basketball player is going to do. That’s not happening in a 30-second spot.”
While there’s nothing preventing underage kids from learning how to bet using apps by watching their parents do it, FanDuel has been outspoken about its opposition to partnerships with colleges and universities.
“FanDuel does not believe it’s appropriate to be directly marketing on any college campus where approximately 50% of the student population is underage,” Jones said. “We’ve avoided direct commercial engagement with colleges, and we don’t participate in any name, image and likeness agreements.”
Data compiled by the NCPG has found that the number of people self-reporting a gambling problem has declined since the beginning of the pandemic. Even so, Whyte said he worries that “this upcoming generation seems to have almost unlimited access to sports betting apps, and that’s a huge concern.”
