A group of bipartisan senators sent a letter last week to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They urged the agency to study the impact of underage gambling.
The effort led by Sens. Katie Britt (R-AL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) seeks an analysis of underage gambling.
“We ask that the CDC develop and incorporate gambling by children, and in particular sports gambling, to give policymakers and families a better understanding of how, and to what extent, sports gambling is harming our children,” the letter reads.
Concerns About Problem Gambling Later In Life
The letter pointed to a 2024 study by Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. It found that those who begin gambling before age 18 are 50% more likely to develop a gambling problem later in life compared to those who started after age 18.
The letter included signatures of several other senators. They included Republican Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), and Democrats Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) and Brian Schatz (Hawaii).
“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,” the senators wrote. “However, the few existing studies are deeply troubling.”
Britt recently penned a separate letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi. In it, she urged the Department of Justice to crack down on offshore gambling operations targeting minors.
The efforts come as minors gambling have been in the news recently. Earlier this month, Ben Affleck told Jimmy Kimmel that his 14-year-old son asked him to help fund his interest in sports betting.
Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) expressed a desire to implement new measures to protect minors from gambling.
“Let’s do more to cut off access to online sports gaming, so our kids aren’t ensnared by addiction at a young age,” Hochul said during her annual State of the State address.
