Americans who made bets with gaming, lotteries and offshore regulated betting firms lost approximately $107 billion in 2017, an increase of 1.5% on the previous year, and that’s expected to increase to $118.5 billion this year, according to H2 Gambling Capital, a data and market intelligence firm based in the U.K. That does not include unlicensed or “black market” activities. Sports betting’s aggregate losses — after wins are taken into account — are estimated to account for just $209 million...

USA Today, “Supreme Court sports betting decision is unlikely to fix state budget problems” https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/05/14/supreme-court-sports-betting-ruling-unlikely-relieve-budget-crises/609317002/  

APPLETON, WI — Citizens Against Expanded Gambling released the following statement regarding this morning’s U.S. Suprme Court’s ruling overturning the federal law that preventing states from sanctioning and promoting sports gambling: While today’s court decision centered on questions involving states’ rights, studies continue to show that gambling promotes an increase in crime, contributes to the destruction of families, comes with some sizeable costs to taxpayers and increases the number of compulsive and problem gamblers without additional dollars dedicated to treatment....

A company hired to manage the Illinois Lottery cheated players and lottery vendors by misrepresenting the odds of winning scratch-off games, a class-action lawsuit in federal court alleges. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/lawsuit-alleges-illinois-lottery-contractor-cheated-players-vendors/article_1c12ba2a-938c-545d-9d87-25a1c203c48a.html  

NJ state government has spent $8.6 million of taxpayer dollars to pay the legal fees of its push for sports betting to benefit the state’s gambling interests: https://www.playnj.com/news/nj-sports-betting-legal-bills/18639/  

Not only is the practice legal, but it is happening with much greater frequency since Indiana hired a private operator — IGT Indiana (formerly GTECH) — to run nearly all of the operations of the Hoosier Lottery. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2018/04/05/hoosier-lottery-often-pulls-plug-high-dollar-scratch-off-games-before-all-prizes-can-won/417720002/  

There are three primary parties involved in the movement toward widespread, legal sports betting. There are operators, mostly casino owners, who want to offer the product to their customers with as few financial burdens as practical. Then there are the leagues, pitching themselves as the foundations of integrity and seeking direct compensation from those operators. And then there are the lawmakers, trying to craft mutually agreeable legislation that reserves a slice for the state https://www.legalsportsreport.com/19395/sports-betting-lobby-funded-by-mlb-nba/

Access to gambling is growing. Today there are fantasy football leagues, bracket basketball, online poker, interactive sports betting and social media gambling sites. Technology allows college students and adolescents who otherwise couldn’t set foot on a casino floor, to bet as much as their credit cards will allow. It is possible to gamble 24/7 on a smartphone without ever leaving one’s apartment or dorm room. Featuring cutting-edge science on youth gaming/gambling addiction, “Growing Up Gambling” is a new NET Television...

Three quarters of online gamblers in Ireland have borrowed money or sold something in order to place a bet, the first ever national survey has found. The study of online gambling in Ireland also revealed that 64 per cent of people felt they may have a problem with gambling and 62 per cent had bet more than they could afford to lose. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/most-online-gamblers-bet-using-loans-mfn3vfkjt

Matching fruits to make a drink, finding hidden words—the idea is to reward players for their brains and dexterity and not simply for dumb luck. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-26/casinos-bet-on-smoothie-slots-desperate-to-lure-millennials