The Social Justice Crisis in U.S. Sports Betting

Jack Anders

In contemporary America, few industries have expanded as rapidly or as aggressively as online sports betting. Not too long ago, sports betting was merely a Las Vegas vice. Now, it’s only an app notification away. Gambling used to be a niche pastime reserved for high rollers in smokey casinos or blue-collared workers jam packed in an underground gambling ring hoping to bring home a few extra bucks.[1] Sports betting has undergone a metamorphosis, transforming into a mainstream acknowledged addiction that can be exacerbated at the touch of a button.[2] The chokehold and reach that sportsbooks have on gamblers has blurred the lines between entertainment and serious risks. From television commercials, social media, podcasts, and everything in-between, sports gambling has conquered the attention and bank accounts of millions.[3] In this new era, artificial intelligence, personalized algorithms, and data exposure leave the door open to vulnerable gamblers to succumb to predatory data use and financial instability.[4] It is undeniably true that a systematic, algorithmic ecosystem lies behind the phone screen, turning sports gambling from a game of chance to a data-driven machine where the house always wins.[5]

Proposed federal legislation as of recently, such as the Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet (SAFE Bet) Act, can help glue together the fragmented state regulations into a cohesive structure.[6] To preface, the SAFE Bet Act is only a comprehensive regulation, not an outright ban on sports gambling.[7]

More than just an indicator of commercial success, the rapid growth of sports gambling has provided the essential infrastructure for a system of personal and financial exploitation.[8] Underneath a flashy introduction to guide users into placing bets lies a network of surveillance and data collection eliciting information to the sportsbooks advantage and the user’s detriment.[9] There are five basic predatory tactics that sportsbooks deploy.[10] The first tactic is sensory overload: Sounds, colors, and animations are calculated triggers used to create a false sense of entertainment.[11] Second, sportsbooks demand attention in the form of sophisticated notification strategies that pull consumers back to the apps. Third, intermittent awards are issued.[12] Similar to slot machines, these are very small, unpredictable wins that are algorithmically spaced out to give a false sense of hope.[13] Fourth, having gamblers “almost win” gives an initial strong rush of excitement to keep the deposits rolling.[14] Finally, misleading bonus structures are posed as “risk-free” but cause users to spiral out of control.[15]

After gathering information such as gameplay data and expenditure tendencies, sportsbooks can offer personalized offers and pricings to keep users hooked.[16] Within the first week of creating an account with a sportsbook, promotions, limited-time offers, bonus incentives, and constant notifications are designed to stimulate compulsive gambling.[17] Additionally, the use of AI technology in these scenarios exacerbates consumer exploitation. Some apps today employ “dark patterns,” which “exploit[] cognitive biases to get people to act outside of their best interest.”[18] AI’s ability to retain customers “may make it harder for users to close the app.”[19]

On a more personal level, the sportsbooks exploitative efforts affect the everyday gambler, specifically with a profound emphasis on low-income individuals.[20] Gamblers have free rein to challenge their depreciating financial situation, thus ​​low-income consumers are the most likely to increase irresponsible gambling behavior, crumbling their financial health.[21] ​​In the six years post 2018, roughly 8% of households across the U.S. placed sports bets with an average annual spending of $1,100.[22] Specifically, the proportion of income spent on sports betting by low-savings households was 32% greater than that of higher-income households.[23] Within the states that legalized sports gambling, filings for bankruptcy soared over 25% in the four-year window since the legalization of online sports gambling.[24] Billions of dollars that could be used otherwise are being poured into sports gambling, and “[t]his trend is particularly pronounced in financially constrained households.”[25] Furthermore, a transactional banking study conducted in 2021 found that the likelihood of missing a mortgage payment jumps to 97.5% when gambling expenditure increases by just 10%.[26]

Low-income sports bettors are constantly chasing immediate betting wins, thus increasing expenditure, and in turn are more likely to default on those payments.[27] This pattern has been mostly defined by the sportsbooks’ use of artificial intelligence accuracy, consumer personality profiling, and unrelenting consumer exposure.[28] As if the odds of winning were not already stacked against gamblers enough, gamblers, specifically those of low-income, are fighting an uphill battle against a computer that has set them up to lose after learning their every move.[29] With such evident social harms, it is only logical to question why the state-led system of regulating sports gambling has allowed this pervasive structure to continue. Although data protection, privacy, and breach-notification obligations are widely acknowledged as essential components of cybersecurity law and policy, the United States still lacks comprehensive federal legislation addressing them.[30] It is evident that the current state-by-state approach is inadequate to combat the persisting harms. If society ever strives to fix the systemic failures, a strong and uniform federal action such as the SAFE Bet Act might be required.

[1] See Sean Chaffin, The Evolution of Casino Design, 888Casino (Nov. 12, 2025), https://www.888casino.com/blog/evolution-casino-design.

[2] Alex Perry, Online Sports Betting has Never Been Easier and That's Sorta Terrifying, Mashable.com (Feb. 23, 2022), https://mashable.com/article/sports-betting-apps-legal-draftkings (“I didn't place [a wager], but one press of a button would've changed that”).

[3] See Mika Ono, Study Reveals Surge in Gambling Addiction Following Legalization of Sports Betting, UC San Diego TODAY (Feb. 17, 2025), https://today.ucsd.edu/story/study-reveals-surge-in-gambling-addiction-following-legalization-of-sports-betting.

[4] Ivan Torres, The House that AI Built, Center for AI Policy (Oct. 31, 2024), https://www.centeraipolicy.org/work/the-house-that-ai-built.

[5] Id. (“online sports betting platforms—powered by AI systems trained on massive sports datasets—possess an inconceivable advantage.”).

[6] Joshua Clark, Maintaining Compliance in Sports Betting: Navigating State and Federal Regulations, BerryDunn (May 20, 2025), https://www.berrydunn.com/news-detail/maintaining-compliance-in-sports-betting-navigating-state-and-federal-regulations; see also John Barr, Lawmakers Propose New Federal Regulations on Sports Betting, ESPN.com (Sep. 12, 2024, 3:30 PM), https://www.espn.com/sports-betting/story/_/id/41234480/congressmen-propose-new-federal-regulations-sports-betting.

[7] See Congressman Paul Tonko, SAFE Bet Act, tonko.house.gov, https://tonko.house.gov/uploadedfiles/safe_bet_legislative_outline_3.24.pdf (last visited Nov. 22, 2025) (noting that the goal of the Act is to “address the public health implications” by requiring states “to meet minimum federal standards in advertising, affordability, and AI”).

[8] Allison Parshall & Jenna Bryner, How ‘Dark Patterns’ in Sports Betting Apps Keep Users Gambling, Scientific American (Jan. 23, 2025), https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-sports-betting-apps-use-psychology-to-keep-users-gambling/ (“[t]hese mobile apps have made sports better quicker . . . granted companies access to troves of data . . . making it easier than ever to fall into problematic behaviors”).

[9] Id. (“[t]he features that make these products exciting and engaging are also the features that make them addictive”).

[10] The Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, 5 Predatory Tactics Used by Online Gambling Platforms, https://800gambler.org/5-predatory-tactics-used-by-online-gambling-platforms/ (last visited Nov. 3, 2025).

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] Id.

[15] Id. (“[m]any advertised bonus specials come with intricate terms and conditions that make actually accessing promotions difficult at best or withdrawing winnings nearly impossible.”).

[16] See Parshall & Bryner, supra note 8.

[17] Stephen Crystal, Predatory Sports Betting Marketing Practices: Inside the Baltimore Lawsuit, SCCG Management (July 30, 2025, 6:45 AM), https://sccgmanagement.com/sccg-articles/2025/7/30/predatory-sports-betting-marketing-practices-baltimore-lawsuit/?utm.

[18] See Parshall & Bryner, supra note 8.

[19] New AI-Driven Betting Features Blur the Line Between Entertainment and Gambling Harms, Pause Before You Play (Jan. 13, 2025), https://pausebeforeyouplay.org/2025/01/new-ai-driven-betting-features-blur-the-line-between-entertainment-and-gambling-harms/.

[20] Scott R. Baker et al., Online Sports Betting Is Draining Household Savings, Kellogg Insight (Dec. 1, 2024), https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/online-sports-betting-is-draining-household-savings.

[21] Michael Jonas, Sports Betting is Soaking ‘Financially Constrained’ Households, Commonwealth Beacon (Aug. 21, 2024), https://commonwealthbeacon.org/by-the-numbers/sports-betting-is-soaking-financially-constrained-households/.

[22] Id.

[23] Id.

[24] Brian Connor, The Consequences of America’s Big Bet on Sports Gambling, The Regulatory Review (Dec. 10, 2024), https://www.theregreview.org/2024/12/10/connor-the-consequences-of-americas-big-bet-on-sports-gambling/.

[25] See Baker, supra note 20.

[26] Jordan Smith, Is Gambling Becoming a Public Health Crisis?, Harvard Magazine (Feb. 10, 2025), https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/03/harvard-research-gambling-public-health-crisis.

[27] Id.

[28] ​​See Doyal D’angelo, As Sportsbooks Implement AI to Drive Growth, Identify Problem Gamblers, Door Opens to Potential Predatory Behavior, Cronkite News (Nov. 26, 2024), https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2024/11/26/ai-in-sports-gambling-opens-door-for-predatory-behavior/.

[29] See Paul Delfabbro, Jonathan Parke & Maris Catania, Behavioural Tracking and Profiling Studies Involving Objective Data Derived from Online Operators: A Review of the Evidence, PubMed Central (Aug. 27, 2023), https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11272745/.

[30] Kathryn R. L. Rand & Steven Andrew Light, Sports Betting and Data Security: Cybersecurity, Data Protection, and Privacy Rights in Gaming Law Practice, American Bar Association (Feb. 10, 2021), https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/resources/business-law-today/2021-february/sports-betting-and-data-security/.