Calls to NC gambling helpline up 79% since sports betting went online in March

Call volume to North Carolina’s Problem Gambling Helpline has increased significantly since sports betting went online in the state in March.

The free helpline, which operates 24 hours a day/7 day a week, all year long, is staffed by masters-level clinicians and is capable of being translated into over 200 languages.

Amanda Winters, Problem Gambling Administrator for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) told the North Carolina State Lottery Commission at their meeting Wednesday that overall call volume went up 79%. Specifically, clinical calls, which are calls somebody makes when seeking treatment or help, went up 34%.

Other statistics include people attending treatment for gambling issues, up 28%. Also, people who want to block gambling apps on their phones or devices shot up 82%, chats to the helpline were up 104%, and engagement with the NCDHHS Call to Change program, a remote program that helps people move through the stages of change, spiked 20%.

She said while call volume went up, calls related to the state lottery stayed about the same from Fiscal Year 2023 to Fiscal Year 2024.

Sixty-three percent of people called the hotline about scratch-off tickets, ten percent about draw games, five percent about fast play games, and four percent about digital instant games.

Winters said 60% of people who called the helpline who were experiencing problems with the lottery found the number on the back of a lottery ticket.

A further breakdown of where the most calls came from revealed that New Hanover, Buncombe, and Johnston counties had the most calls unrelated to the lottery versus Guilford, Forsyth, and Durham who called specifically about the lottery.

Winters added that, unlike in past years when the lottery was the primary gambling preference, sports betting took the lead this year, with calls going up 88%. In 2003, 60 people called about it, as opposed to 155 this year. The average age of callers to the helpline for problems with sports betting is 35-55, but there was a 33% increase in people in the age range between 25 and 44 calling in.

Sports betting and gambling are popular not just in North Carolina, but across the country.

Winters has read that searching for gambling apps has increased 18% over the last year, and nationally, 1/3 of gamblers report taking out credit to gamble specific to sports betting.

The NC Problem Gambling Program has increased the helpline budget for FY 2025 by 20%, prevention grants by 34%, treatment funds by almost 150%, and research efforts by 85%. Overall funding for the program has increased from $1 million for FY 2024 to $3 million for FY 2025 for gambling addiction education and treatment programs.

She also said that NCDHHS has partnered with East Carolina University (ECU) and Birches Health, a New Jersey mental health organization providing nationwide virtual gambling addiction treatment, to pilot the first of its kind metric-based treatment program to evaluate both the treatment system and the outcomes of those who engage with treatment.

Winters said the partnership with ECU, which includes Dr. Michelle Malkin, director of the university’s Gambling Research and Policy Initiative, shows that research done by Malkin revealed college students, including 12% of males and 6% of females, are at risk for gambling issues, while 16% of student athletes compared to 8% of non-student athletes are at risk for developing or experiencing a problem.

She said an NCAA-approved program facilitated by Epic Risk Management that focused on student athletes in colleges and universities and had facilitators who shared their personal struggles with gambling and how it impacted their career showed that over 90% of students and 100% of staff felt that they had excellent awareness after the session in recognizing harmful gambling and feeling confident that they could help others or seek help for themselves.

Winters said that according to a BetMGM spokesperson, nearly 48% of all bets based on the March Madness Tournament during the first day of sports betting activity were placed on UNC Tar Heels to win the championship.

“So, we know the UNC (Chapel Hill) display is popular, which is why we partnered with Tar Heel Sports Communications, and they allowed us to run the largest ever responsible gambling messaging during the March Madness campaign,” she said. They focused on signs in the stadium, social media, and behind home plate.”

The Problem Gambling Division also provides youth prevention grants and education to higher-risk community centers. They have expanded their reach to all health and PE classes in the 7th grade in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, reaching over 1,200 youths. In addition to the 24 schools, they have provided individual grants.

In the recovery space, they have a full-time peer support specialist at Sunrise Community Center in Asheville who leads their peer support specialist program.

The North Carolina Problem Gambling Program has partnered with the lottery since 2006 through a legislative mandate to provide services related to gambling education and treatment.

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