In 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, giving states the power to legalize sports betting, participation in online sports gambling across the U.S. skyrocketed. As of 2026, online sports betting is legal in over 38 states, including New York, Arizona, and Florida, reaching record highs in 2025, with over 78.72 billion dollars in revenue according to the American Gaming Association. The increase in accessibility provided by this growth has majorly transformed the gambling scene for younger individuals across the country. 

Although sports betting is technically illegal in California, daily fantasy (DFS) apps exploit loopholes in legislation to bring sports betting to individuals 18 and up. Currently, Prizepicks–the largest DFS app in North America–is accessible by any individual aged 18 and older in the state. At Archie Williams, sports betting has taken the student body by storm. According to a study conducted by the Pitch, over 30 percent of students aged 18 and older have either engaged in online sports betting in the past or plan to in the near future. 

Archie Williams Wellness Outreach Specialist, Beatrix Berry, regularly deals with student addiction. Although not directly dealing with gambling addiction, Berry understands the vulnerability that younger individuals have to such addictive habits. 

“Gambling has been made very easy. You can [gamble] on your phone so it’s now very accessible,” Berry said. “Similar to vapes and social media, [gambling] is bright and exciting…and before your brain is fully developed, it’s harder to make that decision not to go for those things.”

An Archie Williams senior who would prefer to remain anonymous and will use the pseudonym Robert, gambles daily, primarily placing bets on DFS apps. Robert has personally observed the addictive qualities of such programs and their effects on his daily life. 

“I wouldn’t say I’m addicted [to gambling], but I definitely gamble a lot. It’s something that has become part of my daily routine. I place bets in the morning, and I gamble at night, and it can be very hard to break free from that routine,” Robert said. 

Robert believes that regular gambling can lead to major issues, and he is not alone. According to a study conducted by the National Council on Problem Gambling, nearly eight in 10 Americans (79 percent) believe gambling addiction in the U.S. is as serious or more serious than other types of addiction, like alcohol or drug addiction. 

“I think an addiction to gambling can be very dangerous,” Robert said. “It can be easy to lose sight of reality, and if you can’t find help, I can definitely see how that could quickly snowball into something much worse.” 

Despite the collective concern surrounding gambling, addiction to such activities is still rampant in the U.S. Yakov Barton, a licensed psychotherapist specifically focusing on trauma-informed psychotherapy, directly works with addiction. 

“I never really view addiction as the core presenting problem, although it is sometimes the biggest destructive element in life. Substance addiction is the biggest focus of addiction that I work with, just because it’s so ubiquitous,” Barton said, “but addiction comes in so many forms and oftentimes when you suppress one outlet another one pops up.”

This idea that addiction is not a standalone issue but that it often stems from something else suggests that patterns of addiction often occur due to separate human needs. While gambling is not classified as a depressant and is often not perceived as a traditional stress reliever like drugs or alcohol, it can produce a similar psychological escape through stimulation.

“Stimulants can be just as much of an avoidant tool as depressants. While alcohol, Xanax, and opioids are depressants and they suppress anxiety, you can go from a really stressed state to feeling really excited and exhilarated, whether it’s from porn or gambling, or whatever is providing the dopamine burst and a high. [Habitual gambling] can still replace anxiety temporarily, and it can create this dissociative, elevated, grandiose mood,” Barton said. “There’s no real difference on a certain level between a bump of coke and gambling.” 

As accessibility increases and exposure begins earlier, it can be significantly more difficult for younger individuals to regulate their behaviors and recognize the risks associated with the habit of gambling. Although accessibility to gambling is on the rise with an upward trend, resources are becoming increasingly available. The Wellness Center at Archie Williams is one such resource, actively working to provide a safe space for students struggling with addiction. 

“The Wellness Center is an open, judgment-free place where people can come for more information, no matter what is going on, whether you are worried about a friend or if you’re concerned about yourself or if you just want more information about addiction and dependency in general because it can look a lot of different ways with a lot of different things,” Berry said.