These days, it feels like you can’t watch TV, listen to a podcast or even go for a drive without encountering an ad for a sports betting app.
Since the Supreme Court struck down a federal provision that effectively banned commercial sports betting in 2018, nearly 40 states (plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico) have legalized the practice. The American Gaming Association reported that legal sportsbooks took nearly $150 billion in bets in 2024, a record amount.
Today’s betting doesn’t have to involve a trip to Vegas, a smoky backroom casino or third-party messaging with a sketchy bookie. It looks like a sleek app on your phone, complete with push notifications reminding you of the next game, the next line, the next chance to win back what you just lost.
“Sports betting apps have taken the highly addictive nature of smartphone use and compounded it with the highly addictive nature of sports gambling,” Renée Zavislak, a psychotherapist with extensive experience working with addiction, told HuffPost. “The combination is particularly dangerous, so much so that online searches for gambling addiction support had increased by 23% as of mid-2024.”
For many, these apps have turned casual betting into a trap ― one that anyone, regardless of background or income, could fall into.
“They are easily accessible, low effort and high reward,” said Michelle Hadden, executive director at the New York Council on Problem Gambling. “There is no doubt that sitting on my couch while I place a bet is a lot easier than getting in my car and driving to the casino or to the corner store to buy a lottery ticket.”
The marketing boom has kept pace. Sports broadcasts are saturated with betting odds, flashy graphics and influencer partnerships. Some apps offer “free bets” or “bonus credits,” which can make users feel like they’re not spending real money … until the losses add up.
The apps are built to keep you betting.
Sportsbook apps are designed with many of the same engagement mechanics as social media or gaming platforms ― with colorful animations, endless opportunities for dopamine hits and personalized recommendations based on your past activity.
“These apps can further grab your attention by learning your preferences and patterns of use, like favorite teams and types of bets you make,” said Ken Winters, a psychologist known for his research on addictive behaviors and a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute. “They take advantage of what they think is attractive to you and use it to continue to entice you.”
And engaging with it is all too easy. You don’t have to plan a visit to a betting window. You just have to tap to open an app and scroll. Anyone with a phone effectively carries a casino in their pocket.
In some ways, it’s like the system is engineered to make you feel like you’re in control when you’re not. As the algorithms learn your habits, the offers get harder to resist.
“As if the gambling itself were not enough to create addiction risk, having the activity available at any time and in any place is an obvious exacerbation,” Zavislak said. “But it isn’t only the ease that renders these apps so problematic. The app design is almost always strongly implicated in increasing betting behavior.”
She noted that most sports betting apps offer micro-bets, which are small bets on individual actions during a live sporting event.
“For example, one can bet on a single field goal attempt in a football game, allowing the gambler a much faster path from bet to reward, encouraging more bets and a faster route to compulsivity and addiction,” Zavislak said. “Pop-up stats in the apps, such as leader boards and streak alerts, increase users’ engagement, as do the particularly manipulative sign-up bonuses and risk-free bet promises most apps advertise.”
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Here’s what’s happening in your brain when you bet.
“In order to appreciate how nefarious the ease of pocket-access gambling is, it’s important to consider the neurological processes involved,” Zavislak said. “Every client I have worked with who gambles compulsively reports that the most exciting part of the process is placing the bet ― not winning, as those of us who don’t gamble might assume.”
Thus, losing is just as likely to inspire more gambling as winning, she added.
“Experts have documented that the reward pathway of the brain that is involved in drug addiction is also activated when individuals gamble,” Winters said, pointing to the release of dopamine in anticipation of a potential win.
“Dopamine feels good, plain and simple,” Zavislak noted. “This alone is enough to create problematic habits, not only because of the intense but brief euphoria that comes with these dopamine hits, but because the consequent immersion in the dopamine source ― in this case placing and tracking bets ― allows the gambler to escape other life stressors.”
She described the “sneaky and intense feedback loop,” as life stressors pile up while gamblers are hyper-focused on their bets ― thus increasing the urge to escape those mounting responsibilities.
“This feedback loop is mirrored by the associated neurological happenings; the consequent inhibition of activity in the gambler’s prefrontal cortex impairs his ability to manage impulse control,” Zavislak explained. “As the gambling behavior increases, the brain’s reward centers become hyperattuned to gambling stimuli, leading to stronger urges to bet. And to make it even worse, the brain develops tolerance to the dopamine hits over time, which means the gambler needs to make larger bets to get the same high.”
Losing can even produce a similar chemical reaction, fueling what’s known as “chasing the bet” ― a frantic effort to win back losses that often deepens them.
“Anyone is vulnerable to developing a problem with gambling,” Hadden said. “It does not discriminate.”
She emphasized that lots of people experience negative consequences from their gambling, even if it doesn’t rise to a diagnostic level of problem or disordered gambling.
“While anyone can fall victim to the allure of sports betting apps, young adult men are particularly susceptible,” Zavislak said. “Men in general are more likely to bet on sports, and young men are more likely to suffer the fallacy that sports gambling is a skill ― when in fact it depends almost wholly on luck ― and this belief distorts reality in support of increased risk taking.”
The rush of betting can be powerful enough to override logic, even among those with seemingly nothing to gain. Winters pointed to recent investigations involving professional athletes.
“You had two Cleveland Guardians pitchers and an NBA coach and player allegedly getting involved in prop bet shenanigans,” he said. “They’re willing to risk multimillion-dollar careers for the rush of winning a bet. It’s remarkable. I guess that short-term high, the rush of winning a bet, can be that powerful.”
Is there anything you can do to bet more safely?
“Despite the evil genius design of the apps, it is, in fact, possible for one to use them without becoming addicted,” Zavislak said. “The best defense against addiction is to avoid the apps entirely, of course. However, for those who want to play safely, the most important step is to create and maintain boundaries around both time and money spent.”
She recommended designating specific windows of time to use the apps ― for example, one hour on Sunday or on the bus ride home from work.
“Keep the icon off the phone’s home screen to minimize the risk of ‘cheating,’” Zavislak said. “Another helpful strategy is to populate a payment app like Venmo or CashApp with a weekly amount allotted for bets.”
These kinds of measures require making an agreement with yourself, which can be tricky, she added. “For this reason, I strongly encourage clients who are serious about using the apps safely to allow a friend or partner access to their app behavior and ask the ally to regularly check their usage.”
Familiarize yourself with the features these apps offer that can help you implement limits as well.
“You can cap the total amount of money wagered in a given day or make it so that no single bet on anything can exceed a certain amount,” Winters said. “Or you can turn on time limits ― ‘I’m not going to bet more than this length of time or on these particular days.’”
However, Winters considers these limits to be “soft guardrails,” as they’re totally voluntary and rely on personal discipline.
“They can be effective for people with a decent amount of self-control who want to dip their toes in but don’t want to go overboard,” he said. “It forces a pause before you bet so you’ve sat down and thought about what you feel comfortable losing and where your comfort zone is.”
Hadden noted that people who feel their gambling is already out of control have stronger options.
“If someone is gambling too much and wants to stop, New York’s Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program is a more comprehensive option,” she said, adding that other states have similar offerings. “If your gambling or someone you care about’s gambling is causing you stress or distress, find out more about what you can do and what resources and support options are available.”
Winter said he’d go further to curb the risk altogether if given the power.
“If I were the Gambling Czar, I’d ban in-game or in-play betting options and prop betting,” he said. “These are two features that are nasty gateways to problem gambling.”
The reality is that when a casino lives in your pocket, the line between fun and loss of control can disappear faster than you think.
