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Ole Miss is preparing a new center focused on college gambling, with research, prevention, and student support at the core of the plan. University leaders said the work will help shape policy and treatment efforts as betting activity among students becomes harder to ignore.
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What pushed the effort forward was not only discussion, but data. Research from the University of Mississippi found that up to 39% of college students surveyed had gambled in the past year. The school also said as many as 6% met criteria for problem gambling under standards from the American Psychiatric Association.
From there, university staff began turning concern into structure. What started as an informal group of faculty members and students is now being formalized into a center that will study college gambling and college sports betting more directly.
Ole Miss said the initiative will aim to advance research on how students engage with gambling, from card games to proposition betting and prediction markets. At the same time, the center plans to support campus policies and programs meant to protect student well-being and student athletes.
“Around two years ago, we invited an expert on gambling to come speak to us, and after his presentation, I became very alarmed,” said Daniel Durkin, associate professor of social work. “We were seeing a developing gambling problem, and not a whole lot of people were actually doing anything about it.”
Durkin said the group later attended national gambling conferences, where the gap in college-focused work became clearer.
“When we started, we also started going to national gambling conferences and that’s where we realized that more direct efforts were needed in the collegiate gambling space,” Durkin added. “There was a need for a center focused specifically on collegiate gambling.”
The new center is also expected to feed into a wider campus response. Ole Miss said part of the plan includes promoting prevention, education, intervention, and treatment, including help from trained counsellors for students dealing with gambling problems.
Mississippi gives the issue extra weight. Sports betting already has a visible place in the state, even as a recent effort to expand into online sports betting fell short. Against that backdrop, university officials said gambling has become a broader student health issue, not just an athletics issue.
“From the research findings, we were able to say, ‘Here’s what we need to see on our campus in terms of prevention, education, policy, intervention and treatment for students that need it,’” said Hannah Allen-King, executive director of the university’s William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing.
“So, in the fall of 2026, we will have more of a dedicated campus plan to address gambling.
“We really think that this is an issue that affects Mississippi at large.”
The center will study college student gambling behavior, including sports betting, card games, proposition betting, and prediction markets.
University officials said student gambling concerns have grown, and school research showed a high level of gambling activity among surveyed students.
The study found that up to 39% of college students surveyed had gambled in the past year, while as many as 6% met criteria for problem gambling.
Ole Miss said a more dedicated campus plan to address gambling is expected in fall 2026.
Yes. The university said the effort will include prevention, education, intervention, treatment, and trained counsellors for students who need help.