Sports wagering in the context of addictive disorders: results from a census-matched U.S. sample.

Recent legal cases, technological advances, and sports league administrative decisions have provided unprecedented access to various forms of sports wagering across the United States (U.S.). Such increases in access have highlighted gaps in current understanding of how sports wagering is related to a range of addictive behaviors. The present work explores how diverse forms of sports wagering are related to engagement in and symptoms of addiction to a variety of behaviors and substances. Participants were recruited by YouGov Opinion polling and taken from two U.S. samples. Sports-wagering habits, substance use patterns, and self-reported symptoms of addiction to behaviors and substances were assessed. Across behaviors measured, sports-wagering was consistently associated with greater engagement in the use of diverse substances and potentially addictive behaviors such as gaming and pornography use. Self-reported symptoms of addiction to such substances and behaviors were consistently and uniquely related to greater reports of sports wagering, except for traditional fantasy sport play. Collectively, these results suggest that sports wagering behaviors, especially traditional sports wagering, e-sports wagering, and taking part in daily fantasy leagues are often linked to a wide variety of impulsive or at-risk behaviors and may be seen as an indicator of more broad concerns with risky behaviors.