Online gambling and young U.S.

You might say it's been on a winning streak since a Supreme Court decision in 2018 cleared the way for states to allow sports betting.

Now legal in 30 states, the influence of online gambling

is hard to miss on billboards, commercials, even college campuses, many of which have made deals

with sports betting companies. Three out of four college students gambled last year, according to the

National Council on

Problem Gambling.

And the online betting sites are increasingly targeting young people, says Janelli Espinalal,

the host of Marketplace's financially inclined podcast.

That's where I think it's most interesting and a little bit scary because the physical

gaming space where people

are going, especially young people with their friends to go see games. And it's like these

physical spaces where the ads are popping up constantly and they're around you always on

TV and the commercials. And so I think it's getting more and more and more prevalent over the

recent years than really ever before. So last time around, we talked about dark patterns, these kinds of user designs that are

intended to manipulate people into giving up something that they might not have otherwise,

like their time or their money.

That feels relevant here.

How are these gambling apps sort of integrating dark patterns?

Yeah.

I mean, the tools that they're using are almost identical.

Like, that's the thing.

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