Ozer Receives Funding to Continue Research on Online Sports Betting

Gorkem (G.T.) Ozer, assistant professor of decision sciences, has received funding as part of a $2.6 million award to continue his research into the potential impacts of online sports betting.

Ozer will collaborate with researchers to examine how gaining or losing access to legal sports betting through interstate moves affects individuals’ financial health. The project will focus on outcomes including credit health and financial distress as researchers seek to better understand the downstream consequences of the rapidly expanding online sports betting market.

The project builds on recently published research from Ozer examining the potential public health consequences of online sports betting.

In a study published in Information Systems Research, Ozer and his co-authors analyzed problem gambling hotline calls and suicide rates across the U.S. as states legalized sports betting at different times.

The researchers found that state legalization of online sports betting was associated with a 22.8% increase in calls to the National Problem Gambling Hotline and a 3.1% increase in suicide rates. The researchers did not find similar statistically significant increases following the legalization of in-person sports betting.

“Our key finding highlights a divide: the negative consequences manifest primarily when the activity shifts online,” Ozer says. “The widespread accessibility of mobile gambling coincided with a measurable uptick in problem gambling hotline calls and elevated suicide rates.”