1007 - Public Health and Gambling Part 2: Problem Gambling
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2026
⏱️ 16 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
About this episode:
Between scratch tickets, casinos, and the recent explosion of sports betting apps, opportunities to gamble abound. So too do opportunities for the development of a gambling disorder—a medical condition as serious as substance use disorders. In this episode: Will Hinman and Christopher Welsh from the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling explain how to recognize gambling disorders and where to seek help.
Guests:
Will Hinman is a certified peer recovery specialist at the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling.
Dr. Christopher Welsh is an addiction psychiatrist and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is also the medical director of the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling.
Host:
Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department.
Show links and related content:
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As Online Betting Surges, So Does Risk of Addiction—Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine
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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
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Public Health and Gambling Part 1: How Gambling Became So Ubiquitous, and the Potential for Problems—Public Health On Call (February 2026)
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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 jhh.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 two of a two-part series on public health and gambling. |
| 0:54.7 | In this episode, we take a look at what problem gambling looks like and how to treat it. Dr. Chris Welsh is the medical director and director of research, and Will Hinman is the lead supervisor for peer support for the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling. They talked to Josh Sharfstein about recognizing and addressing gambling addiction in 2026. If you missed part one of this series, we recommend checking it out. |
| 1:00.3 | It covers the ubiquity of 24-7 gambling and how changing regulation has really upped the ante |
| 1:05.7 | for addiction potential. Let's listen. Dr. Chris Welsh, Will Hinman. Thank you so much for joining me today here on Public Health On Call to talk about problem gambling. |
| 1:15.9 | It's Super Bowl season. |
| 1:17.2 | There's a lot of sports betting going on, and some people who are listening may be worried about someone in their life. |
| 1:22.6 | And I want to start with you, Will. |
| 1:24.6 | What does problem gambling look like? |
| 1:29.4 | You know, just very much like substance use, where it starts to interfere with one's life. With gambling, we kind of define a tolerance |
| 1:35.0 | as it requiring more money and more time to feed the addiction. So it would be someone's |
| 1:41.1 | inability to control the amount of time and money they spend. |
| 1:44.5 | We start noticing a lot more preoccupation. |
| 1:47.2 | It starts interfering with their responsibilities or their daily activities and they're unable |
| 1:52.1 | to balance their life with gambling. |
| 1:54.2 | Now, you're an addiction psychiatrist, Dr. Welsh. |
| 1:57.8 | How do you look at it? |
| 1:58.8 | How do you assess someone for this condition? |
| 2:04.7 | Yeah, I mean, like Will said, it's very much like other addictions. |
... |
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