Lynnae is a journalist covering the intersection of technology, culture, and gambling. She has more than five years of experience as a writer and editor, with bylines at SlashGear and MakeUseOf. On the iGaming side,...
Read Full BioA bipartisan group of five senators has called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study the impact legalized sports betting has had on the country’s children. The senators have cited a dearth of research into the effect of gambling on youth in the U.S. as one of the primary reasons they’re asking the CDC to act now.
In a January 14 letter addressed to the CDC’s acting director, Jim O’Neal, the lawmakers pressed the agency to study youth exposure to sports gambling and to include questions on the issue in an existing survey the agency conducts on youth health every two years.
Sens. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are leading the effort, with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) all cosigning the letter. The request comes as legal sports betting continues to expand across the U.S., with online sportsbooks available in dozens of states.
Even as the legal gambling market continues to grow nationwide, the lawmakers say very little data is available to policymakers and families about the scope of underage gambling.
“Since the legalization of sports gambling in the United States, there has been limited research examining the extent to which minors are accessing sports betting platforms – whether through illegal access of legitimate platforms or through illegitimate offshore operations. However, the few existing studies are deeply troubling,” the senators wrote in the letter.
Senators Push to Expand Youth Risk Behavior Survey
At the center of the senators’ request is the inclusion of questions about children and gambling in the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). The YRBSS is a survey that the agency conducts every two years that tracks health-related behaviors among middle and high school students.
The senators want the CDC to add gambling-focused questions to the survey and, in the letter, emphasized including sports gambling as one of the survey topics to better understand youth participation and potential harms.
While the senators pointed out that the research into youth gambling was lacking, they did highlight that the limited research available suggests that early exposure to gambling could increase long-term risk. A 2024 study found that those who begin gambling before the age of 18 are 50% more likely to develop a gambling problem compared to those who begin gambling after the age of 18,” they said.
The senators also pointed to polling data that showed many parents didn’t know whether their children were gambling or not. “… 1 in 6 parents say they would not know if their child was gambling. We believe that policymakers and American families deserve to know the extent to which our children are engaging in potentially addictive and detrimental behavior,” the lawmakers said.
Beyond measuring youth participation in gambling, the senators asked for information about how minors are placing bets, including whether they’re accessing regulated sportsbooks illegally, using offshore operators, or using other workarounds. They also asked the CDC to estimate the resources needed to expand the survey’s question pool and to share any research on the impact of sports gambling on children’s and teens’ health.
The letter stopped short of proposing new regulations or restrictions. Instead, the senators framed it as a search for answers to a data gap that needs to be filled, so lawmakers can determine whether additional safeguards are needed.
