With football and basketball seasons well underway, the New Hampshire Lottery is expecting record-breaking amounts of money spent on sports wagering.
New Hampshire has seen more activity from sports betting since the state legalized it in 2019, mirroring a national trend. Sports leagues have embraced it, odds are shown during televised games, and sports wagering advertisements are everywhere. Sports gambling is legal for those 18 and older.
So for October’s Big Question, we asked: How has sports wagering shown up in your life?
NHPR’s Julia Barnett and Elena Eberwein stopped by a Concord sports bar during a Patriots game to find out.
Gunnar - Pittsford, VT: I do like to bet on football, so college football or NFL and then NBA or college basketball. I'm a senior at Keene State, so I live with four guys and we don't get into it extremely, but we definitely talk on like a Sunday [about] football. It's definitely fun. I mean, it's fun to win at anything. I don't think it should be on television and everything because you shouldn't push it onto the kids at that point. And that's my whole thing. But yeah, they definitely pushed it on to us a little bit too much.
Derek: I have a 16-year-old who has friends who are gambling. They're not even legal age to gamble, but they can still do it. It's terrible. The commercials are way too much. Every commercial you see now is about gambling, gambling, gambling. It's an adult thing, right? It's always been. This is not responsible gambling.
It's very much pushed in your face as, ‘hey, you can bet on anything you want,’ right? And, it's very glamorized in that sense. It's too enticing for young kids, especially college. It's creating a lot of gambling addictions. I don't see any change to it unless we make policy changes. But again, I kind of tie it into the whole pharmaceuticals thing as well. Right? We're pushing pharmaceuticals. We're pushing gambling. At the end of the day, it's not something you should be seeing on our commercials on television.
Taylor - Killington, VT: My dad always told me, don't bet on your team. So I know I can't bet on my favorite hockey team because I'll get upset, like a little too upset [if] I have money on it. I'm a big hockey fan, so kind of started with that. And then it was kind of around the time of like the Super Bowl and a lot of other big sporting events. So I feel like when there's bigger events, I'll still do it, but not like day-to-day.
Tyler - Concord, NH: It's shown up in my life in terms of making the odd game a little more interesting. I found it to be good as a hobby and it just adds some action. [Betting] allows me to watch games that I otherwise might not be as interested in. I think if I found myself paying attention, a little too close, to Sunday football, like if I noticed a difference in that, I'd probably be a bit concerned.
Joe: I bartend and serve at The Draft. So I've been in this industry a long time, and you hear it a lot more now than you used to. The longer I work, the more you hear betting, betting, betting. I love sports, but I like it for the sport. You hear people like, ‘oh, are you really interested in this game?’ They're like, ‘no, I just have this guy for this many yards or this guy for this many goals’ and you're like, ‘oh, so you don't love the sport. You’re just in it for the money.’
[Julia] Do you feel like that ruins the spirit of it a little bit?
For me personally, yeah. I have the sports betting apps. I like to use it if I really want to watch a game to add a little fuel to the fire. But it’s hard to know if people love the sports anymore or just love betting on it.
We also sat down with Dr. Angela Bergen, director of the New Hampshire Council on Problem Gambling, to chat about what she’s been seeing when it comes to sports betting in the Granite State.
Insights from Dr. Angela Bergen:
- Sports betting has become increasingly popular among men ages 18 to 30
- Online platforms that allow betting during games keep bettors engaged and allow them to put more money on the line
- Aspects of sports betting can be fun and socially engaging
Resources are available for those who need them:
- Draft Kings has “Responsible Gaming” resources that allow you to self-exclude
- Websites like BetBlocker allow bettors to self-exclude from online gambling
- The New Hampshire Council on Problem Gambling has a website and a 24/7 peer support hotline, available at (603) 724-1605
