March may have been Problem Gambling Awareness Month, but one should not expect April to be uneventful when it comes to America’s growing mental health crisis. Not by a long shot, unfortunately. Below is a summary of the top stories and trends in the realm of problem gambling that vulnerable individuals and households in addition to regulators and other stakeholders need to be mindful of.
April 2025 News Regarding Problematic Gambling / Sports Betting that America Needs to Know About
Sports Trading Becomes Latest Sports Betting Threat
In a surprising turn of events, online prediction markets have expanded beyond offering traders an opportunity to “wager” on weather events, politics, and Hollywood box office receipts, to include the once unthinkable – sports. That’s right, earlier this year, prediction market operators who are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), namely Kalshi and Robinhood, have thrown their hats into the rings, arenas, fields, and stadiums of America to collect trades on YES/NO outcomes of collegiate and professional sports. While this all occurred from January through to March, sports trading is once again in the news for April after select states (those regulated for sports betting) such as Nevada, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Montana, and Massachusetts have sent cease-and-desist letters to sports trading operators, claiming that sports prediction markets are de facto sports betting operations and are therefore operating outside of the requisite jurisdiction. The results of these contentions are coming in as we speak. Just yesterday (April 15), Kalshi won their case over the state of Nevada, although some speculate that victory may be short-lived due to the Federal Wire Act ban on sports betting:
“The Wire Act prohibits anyone ‘engaged in the business of betting or wagering’ from ‘knowingly using a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest […] Kalshi’s sports-related event contracts – which offer ‘traders the ability to enter into contracts to decide, for example, ‘who will win a sporting event’ – are clearly ‘bets or wagers’ for purposes of the Wire Act. Under federal law, ‘a bet or wager’ encompasses the ‘staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of a sporting event.’ By Kalshi’s own admission, its sports-related event contracts ‘involve the outcome of sporting events.’ ” (FORBES, April 15, 2025)
We’ll keep you up to date as this important story evolves. Until then, read more on the development of sports trading in America right here. It may very well lead to further increases in demand for help to quit gambling, which we discuss below.
900% Increase in Search for Help to Quit Gambling
Each month, Kindbridge conducts a review of United States based online search data for the following expressions (and semantically related phrases):
- Help me stop gambling
- Help me quit gambling
Sometimes this search stays steady, but over the most recent fiscal quarter, Google search data has unveiled a very concerning 900% increase in queries for help to stop/quit gambling:
At a state-by-state and national level the demand is escalating to the point that problem gambling telephone hotlines, much less on-premises facilities, are able to fulfill the need. This is why Kindbridge has stepped up to offer vulnerable citizens with more accessible support services. We touch on this at a state level, below.
U.S. States Where Gambling Addiction Concerns Are Most on the Rise
While the data above relates to the entire United States, we were curious about where concerns about gambling addiction are most prevalent as of April, 2025. Google Trends provided the following intel.
Note: A value of 100 is the peak “popularity” for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as “popular”.
It comes as little surprise to find that gambling addiction is currently trending in Montana, given that they have taken a fairly liberal stance on the allowance of casino gaming and sports betting. It’s also why Kindbridge has launched dedicated problem gambling treatment services in Montana (click here). Connecticut, with a trending score of 85, also permits both activities (click here). New Hampshire, with a current trending score of 80, also does so, albeit in a more tempered way (view here). Michigan, with its score of 79, is particularly open to casino gaming and sports betting (see here). And then there’s Nevada, which is consistently found on Google Trends’ “gambling addiction” radar. But again, as shown by the 900% national increase in search for help to stop/quit gambling the entire country is trending into concerning territory. Fortunately, Kindbridge’s problem gambling treatment platform is available to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Stay tuned for more as stories develop.
Get Immediate and Effective Problem Gambling Support
CALL +1 (877) 426-4258
OR
Email [email protected]
