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Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Experts are saying that losses to online gambling in the United States will surpass the $1 trillion mark in the next few years at the expense of American consumers.
U.S. lawmakers and government regulators "cannot continue to rely on the theory of responsible gambling, which shifts the burden of harm prevention onto individuals," Derek Webb, founder and chief funder of the California-based Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said Wednesday in a release.
Gambling is legal in some form in more than 80% of the nearly 200 nations around the globe, according to a recent report by a public health commission which also sounded the alarm on the danger of the online gambling industry to public health.
The independent gambling reform organization Campaign for Fairer Gambling has expertise in lobbying practices with both British and American-based gambling businesses, and claim to be powered by the "best available evidence, advancing data-driven policymaking."
It's estimated that roughly 16% of adults and 26% of adolescents who use an online gambling platform have a gambling disorder. The commission report added that 9% of adults and 16% of adolescents who use sports betting products, likewise, have a gambling problem.
Now the World Health Organization is saying that its recent estimates project the legal aspects to the online gambling market will hit $700 billion globally on an annual basis as early as 2028.
It added that U.S. consumers and the economy, likewise, are projected to lose at least $1 trillion to the 25-year-old online gambling market by 2028, as well.
A 2021 United Nations report had indicated that up to $1.7 trillion was already estimated to be lost on illicit betting markets every year.
Meanwhile, a 2022 Pew Research survey found that 19% of U.S. adults placed a sports bets either in person or online in the last year. The WHO emphasized the need for "universal, population-wide public health policies" designed to combat the harm of gambling and its known addictive qualities.
The District of Columbia and 38 states have legalized sports betting following a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a ban, according to the American Gaming Association.
Among the WHO's seven recommendations is to end gambling advertising, promotion and sponsorship of sports and other activities.
However, Webb pointed out that states largely appear to ignore World Health Organization strategies to keep the harm of online gambling at bay.
"States giving tax breaks to any form of gambling or gambling promotion should consider whether they are exposing themselves or their regulators to litigation risk," Webb added.
Operators of online gambling schemes often utilize a series of offers or other tacts aimed to not only entice new customers, but intensify any gambling addiction. DraftKings currently is the subject of a lawsuit that alleges a gambler's addiction was "nurtured" by the company.
The gambling software company YieldSec was commissioned by CFG to look into the topic of dangers to Internet gambling.
Meanwhile, a select number of state's chief law enforcement officers have so far issued "cease and desist" letters to illegal operators such as Bovada, which is licensed on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
YieldSec, short for "yield security," estimated that in 2023 the illegal online gambling market in the U.S. by that point was valued at more than $40 billion. But enforcement remains problematic and when Bovada, for example, exits a state, "other illegal operators often step in to fill the void in the absence of rigorous federal enforcement," according to officials.
"Promoting legalization as a way to reduce gambling addiction or eliminate illegal gambling is misleading and unsustainable," Webb wrote Wednesday.
