How Bad Sports Betting Research Can Lead to Bad Sports Betting Regulations

Abstract

Academic research can provide important evidence to inform policy debates. Such has been the case with the “gambling studies” academic field, which has largely developed since 1990, when the casino industry began expanding outside of Nevada and Atlantic City, NJ. Recently, sports betting legalization across the United States has been controversial. Despite a significant body of published research analyzing the socioeconomic effects of expanded gambling opportunities, much of the recent public discussion has focused on just three working papers circulated in 2024. These papers have been cited as authoritative in media reports and have been presented before policymakers at the state and federal level. We highlight serious methodological problems in these papers to suggest that flawed research can lead to bad policy, and that the current sports betting debate has parallels to the 1990s debate over the “social costs of gambling.”