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Florida gambling addiction hotline getting more calls on online sports betting

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Published  March 22, 2025 5:04pm EDT
Tampa
FOX 13 News

Gambling addiction on the rise in Florida

FOX 13's Jordan Bowen dives into the rise in gambling addictions in Florida since the state legalized sports betting through the Hard Rock Bet app.

The Brief

    • As sports betting has grown in popularity in Florida over the past year, so has the number of people who have become addicted to it.
    • The Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling has received 88% more calls over the last year.
    • Experts say its easy access to consumers makes it easy to indulge, and they urge people not to begin sports betting.

TAMPA, Fla. - It's been over a year since online sports betting exploded in Florida through the Hard Rock Bet app. 

As the popularity has grown, the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling says so has the number of calls coming into their gambling addiction hotline.

Hard Rock Bet's interface on their app.

"It can, in certain people, be highly addictive in terms of it becoming a compulsive behavior. People may want to stop, but they keep being compelled to do it in a repetitive fashion. It can be very powerful," Resurgence Tampa Bay CEO Forrest Arthur said.

Big picture view:

According to the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, they've received 88% more calls in the last year, going from about 34,000 in 2023 to more than 61,000 in 2024. 

Hard Rock Bet's interface on their app.

The council says the age group calling the most is men aged 20 to 25.

What they're saying:

Resurgence Tampa Bay, which is an addiction treatment center, sees the problem firsthand and helps treat people with gambling addiction.

People partaking in sports betting.

"It's so easy to do, and it's so difficult to get away from the ability to do it. Most people gamble on their cell phones, and we carry our cell phones around with us all the time, so the person trying to recover from this will really struggle given the fact that they typically have access to it right in their pockets," Arthur said.

With March Madness underway, the council says it is bracing for an increase in call volume. 

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According to the American Gaming Association, Americans anticipate betting about $3.1 billion on the tournament, up from $2.7 billion last year.

What you can do:

As Arthur explains, a gambling addiction can be hard for one to break but says that it is possible and does usually take time.

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"The first thing I would do is just encourage people not to do it, because you don't know if you're one of the people that is going to be susceptible to that compulsive behavior or not," Arthur said.

The Source: FOX 13's Jordan Bowen collected the information in this story.

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