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Massachusetts’ legal sports betting market is barely two years old, yet new research suggests the state is already seeing changes in gambling behavior — and not all of them are positive.
A study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s SEIGMA team shows more people are betting, but problem gambling and related harms are also climbing. The research draws on online surveys from 2022 and 2023, offering one of the first detailed looks at the social impact of legalized sports betting in the state.
Good to know
The SEIGMA data reveals that legal sports betting participation grew from 16.7% in 2022 to 32.6% in 2024. At the same time, problem gambling rates among monthly gamblers increased from 20.9% to 28%. Financial harm jumped from 18% to 25%, and family-related issues linked to gambling more than doubled, from 13.9% to 27.2%.
Rachel Volberg, SEIGMA’s principal investigator, called the trend worrying:
“These indicators from the monthly gamblers in the online panels are not going in the right direction, which is definitely a concern when considering the impacts of legalized sports betting on the population at large.”
Interestingly, use of illegal betting platforms fell from 13.5% in 2022 to 8.3% in 2024 — though that number was up slightly from the low of 6.8% in 2023.
The study also found that public opinion on gambling is shifting. The percentage of monthly gamblers who believe gambling causes more harm than good rose from 48% in 2022 to 56% by late 2024. Fewer people now support the idea that all types of gambling should be legal, while a small but growing share believe all forms should be illegal.
The findings came just as the Massachusetts Gaming Commission announced a $450,000 fine for DraftKings. The penalty was for allowing customers to fund betting accounts with credit cards, something banned under the state’s 2022 sports betting law.
According to regulators, DraftKings accepted over $83,000 in prohibited deposits across three incidents in 2023 and 2024. The company self-reported each violation and initially blamed an internal miscommunication before discovering a failed software fix was the real cause.
As part of the settlement, DraftKings refunded the $83,000 to 218 customers and agreed to hire an independent auditor to review transactions from February 2023 through the market’s March 2023 launch.
It began in early 2023 after legislation passed in 2022.
SEIGMA stands for the Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts, a research initiative based at UMass Amherst.
They accepted credit card deposits for sports betting accounts, which is prohibited by Massachusetts law.
Yes, though it saw a slight increase from 2023 to 2024 after hitting a low point.
Massachusetts is seeing both growth and growing pains in its sports betting industry. Legal participation is up, illegal betting is down, but problem gambling indicators are trending in the wrong direction. With fines like the one issued to DraftKings, regulators are signaling they plan to enforce the rules strictly while researchers continue tracking the social costs of a booming betting market.