This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: From social media feeds to sports broadcasts, gambling ads have become increasingly difficult to avoid. New CU Boulder research links gambling advertising to more gambling activity and more searches for help with problem gambling.
Researchers found that in states with more spending on gambling ads, people searched more often for help with problem gambling. Whether sports betting was legal in a state, however, was not associated with more searches for help. "Sports betting ads are everywhere—they're inescapable," said Chris Vargo, associate professor at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at CU Boulder.
"And we have a saying in advertising—if you're seeing a lot of ads for a certain service, they're raking it in." The study, published in Policy & Internet, was conducted by Vargo, CU Boulder associate professor Toby Hopp and Harsha Gangadharbatla of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Researchers analyzed advertising and search data across 41 states and combined survey responses with digital activity from 419 users. At the individual level, exposure to gambling ads on Facebook, TikTok and X was associated with whether someone gambled, how frequently they gambled and whether a gambling-site visit was observed.
Because the study was correlational, the findings identify associations and do not establish that advertising caused the behavior. For the state-level analysis, the team compared quarterly gambling advertising spending from 2014 to 2023 with Google Trends data for 116 problem-gambling help-seeking searches across 41 states. The association between advertising spending and help-seeking search interest strengthened over time.
"Ads are good at following us around the web. We've all seen the item we left in an online shopping cart follow us as we browse apps and social media," Vargo said. The state-by-state rollout of legal sports betting allowed the researchers to examine the role of advertising separately from legalization.
"We thought it might be like marijuana—it becomes legalized, it takes a little time and then takes off," Vargo said. "And while that's true here, it's really the introduction of advertising in each of these states that clearly signals the growth of sports betting." For a closer look at individual behavior, the researchers combined survey responses with passive digital trace data from 419 users. The data included website and app visits, video plays, searches, social media activity and the social media advertising users saw.
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