The hobby that’s costing young men tens of thousands of dollars tripscan войти

When Ethan lost $11,000 on a single hockey game this past March, it was the last straw.

Ethan, who declined to share his last name out of fear of losing his job, bet “the spread’” on a Hurricanes-Flames hockey game. That means a team doesn’t just need to win – they must win by more than a certain number of points. The Hurricanes did come out on top – but by only one point, not the two-plus Ethan needed.

Ethan, 27, broke down and cried in front of his girlfriend. He couldn’t do it anymore.

What started as a casual hobby in college with his fraternity brothers had somehow escalated into a severe, years-long gambling addiction. And Ethan wanted out.

Although his story is extreme, Ethan is an example of an increasingly concerning trend.

A recent national survey of registered voters in the US conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University found a quarter of men under 30 bet on sports online — and 10% of men ages 18-30 have a gambling problem, compared to just 3% of the overall population.

In that survey, 68% of people who bet on sports online reported at least one gambling behavior that’s considered harmful, such as borrowing money to gamble or saying the gambling has caused financial or emotional problems.

Dr. Timothy Fong, a UCLA psychiatry professor who is board-certified in addiction psychiatry, told CNN’s Nick Watt young people are particularly vulnerable to sports betting because their frontal lobes cannot yet handle impulsivity and risk-taking. Watt explores further on “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper” airing at 10pm on Sunday, August 24.

“We know that the younger you start betting on sports, that leads to a higher likelihood of developing a gambling problem when they’re older,” Fong said.

That’s what happened to Ethan.

‘Anxious frenzy’ When Ethan was in college, sports gambling wasn’t yet legal, so he and his fraternity brothers used illegal sites to place bets.

In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that states should decide whether to legalize sports betting. That marked a turning point for the industry, and it’s now legal in 38 states and Washington, D.C.

CNN goes inside the highs and lows of sports bettingVideo CNN goes inside the highs and lows of sports betting Suddenly, Ethan and others like him had access to several legal apps. That quickly escalated his addiction: He quit his near-six-figure sales job last August, determined to make sports betting his full-time gig.

Last September, he was doing what he did every morning, drinking coffee with his girlfriend and reviewing daily game predictions. This time he came across a sports betting influencer who boasted about winning game after game – and though Ethan didn’t usually fall for this type of content, he was intrigued by what seemed like hard proof. The influencer advertised his picks for five games that day.

“I bet $2,000 on each game and I lost every single one,” Ethan tells CNN.

Ethan spiraled into an “anxious frenzy.” The next day he placed a risky $10,000 bet on a Chicago Bears game and tried to hide the paralyzing fear from his girlfriend. Ethan managed to win $20,000 and get out of the red. He was relieved—and back in the game. The next few months were a blur of ups and downs, wins and losses.

Slowly, he realized he couldn’t even enjoy the wins amid all the anxiety.

The $11,000 loss on the Hurricanes-Flames hockey game in March was the end. He chose to officially “self-exclude” — banning himself from all sports betting through the apps, meaning he wouldn’t be able to log back in.

Shifting industry Twenty years ago, the word “gambling” called to mind slot machines in Las Vegas and poker tables in Atlantic City: mostly older people, and maybe the occasional bachelorette party, playing in person.

Now, online gambling and sports betting have expanded that definition significantly. While casinos still represent most of the gambling industry’s profits, sports betting is exploding quickly: Revenue in that sector reached $13.7 billion in 2024, a 25% increase in just a year, according to the American Gaming Association.