1006 - Public Health and Gambling Part 1: How Gambling Became So Ubiquitous, and the Potential for Problems
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2026
⏱️ 15 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
About this episode:
Sports betting has exploded in popularity, offering bettors the opportunity to gamble on everything from coin tosses to touchdowns. But experts are becoming increasingly concerned about the public health implications. In this episode: Researchers Matthew Eisenberg and Mark Meiselbach discuss the rise of online sports gambling, its potential dangers, and how policy guardrails could make it safer.
Guests:
Matthew Eisenberg, PhD, is a health economist and associate professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where he also serves as the Director of the Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy.
Mark Meiselbach, PhD, is a health economist and assistant professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Host:
Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.
Show links and related content:
-
As Online Betting Surges, So Does Risk of Addiction—Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine
-
New Survey Shows Rising Rates of Disordered Gambling Among Marylanders Since Legalization of Online Sports Betting—University of Maryland School of Medicine
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Warning Signs—Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling
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Voluntary Exclusion Program—Maryland Alliance for Responsible Gaming
- Public Health and Gambling Part 2: Problem Gambling—Public Health On Call
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:31.2 | Hey listeners, it's Lindsay Smith-Rogers, and today is part one of a two-part series on public health and gambling. |
| 0:38.6 | In this episode, |
| 0:43.7 | sports betting isn't just something you do at a casino anymore. It's on your phone and available 24-7. |
| 0:48.9 | For many, it's harmless fun. But public health experts are increasingly worried about how betting apps, constant promotions, and rapid-fire in-game wagers may raise the risks of addiction, especially for young men. |
| 0:56.8 | Today, Johns Hopkins economist Dr. Matthew Eisenberg and Dr. Mark Myzelbach talked to Stephanie Desmond |
| 1:02.0 | about how this new era of online betting is shaping behavior. Look out for part two of this series, |
| 1:07.9 | where we'll take a closer look at gambling addiction, including diagnosis and treatment. Let's listen. Matt Eisenberg and Mark Meiselback, thanks so much |
| 1:16.6 | for joining me. Thanks for having us. Thank you. So today we're going to talk about gambling as a |
| 1:21.8 | public health crisis. Matt, paint a picture of what we're seeing. I know that when I'm watching the |
| 1:25.6 | Super Bowl this weekend and when I'm watching other sports, I'm constantly bombarded with advertisements to bet on the game, bet on |
| 1:33.1 | who pickets the first hit, I mean, all kinds of things that I can bet on. Talk to me about how we got here. |
| 1:39.2 | Sure. Historically, this was the type of activity, sports gambling that had to be done in a casino or some other designated place. |
| 1:47.4 | And then in 2018, there was a Supreme Court case that overturned the federal ban on mobile sports gambling. |
| 1:55.6 | What happened is that returned it to the states. |
| 1:57.6 | So the states were allowed to decide whether or not they wanted to |
| 2:01.2 | allow this type of activity. And a lot of states decided that they do want to allow this activity. |
| 2:08.6 | So we saw a lot of big entrance into the market over the past several years, firms like |
| 2:14.3 | draft kings and and Fandul as well as a lot of others that allow for gambling on sports events right from your phone and I think you pointed out one interesting feature about this is one you can bet on who's going to win the game right which what people traditionally think about when they think about sports gambling bet on these more micro things that might happen during the |
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