Gambling Is Sending More People to the ER

Legalizing gambling can have severe consequences for public health, according to a recent study. After Canada legalized betting on individual sports events in 2022, emergency department visits for gambling disorders doubled, with most patients being men. Almost one third of these visits resulted in hospitalization. The authors warn that this could signal a wider increase in harms across the population, such as financial distress, family problems, and worsening mental health.

The study projects that emergency department visits would have been 154% lower than they were following the legalization of online betting on single sporting events in Ontario. Most patients showed up at the emergency room with major depression, suicidality, and other mental-health or substance-abuse diagnoses. Similarly, calls to Ontario’s free 24-hour mental health and addictions helpline increased by 200% compared to what they would have been if the law had not been changed.

The mental-health consequences of expanding betting are a warning sign for the U.S., where sports gambling has proliferated since 2018. Therapists in the U.S. have already seen the mental-health consequences of legalization, with the number of clients seeking treatment for gambling disorder growing more than twofold since 2024. Prediction markets, which allow people as young as 18 to place wagers, are exacerbating the problem, as they are not regulated environments.

Gambling disorders are five to ten times more likely to lead to suicidal ideation and suicide in people with gambling disorders than in the general population. There is little investment in tracking these problems, as there has been no money set aside by the Canadian government to monitor the potential public-health impacts of legalizing betting.