• Posted August 13, 2026

Gambling Linked To Mental Health Problems Among College Students

Gambling is a powerful temptation for today’s college students, and those hooked have a greater risk of deeper mental health issues, a new study says.

Student gambling frequently occurs alongside depression, anxiety and substance use, researchers reported recently in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.

"What's interesting about this study is even though mental health concerns were very prominent, students who tended to gamble more were more likely to be experiencing greater levels of problems among a sample that was already experiencing plenty,” said lead researcher Nicholas McAfee, director of the William Magee Center for AOD and Wellness Education at the University of Mississippi.

Gambling is a real concern for college students, given the proliferation of online betting and prediction markets in the United States, researchers said in background notes.

In-person or online sports betting has become legal in 38 states, with 30 allowing online betting, researchers said.

For the study, researchers surveyed more than 1,800 students attending college at Mississippi’s eight public universities.

The survey took place in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many casinos were closed during lockdowns, but since then, access to gambling has only increased, researchers said.

Overall, 1 in 4 students (24%) had gambled during the past year, and about 7% showed signs of gambling addiction, results showed.

Gambling only added to already high levels of anxiety, depression and substance use among all students, researchers said.

"Students were really, really struggling," McAfee said. “Almost every student in the sample reported some increased level of mental health concern. It didn't matter what school you went to; it was just across the board.”

Unfortunately, access to mental health services and gambling treatment hasn’t increased to meet the need, McAfee said.

"This is not a Mississippi thing; we as a country are trying to figure out how to address the proliferation of gambling among young adults and college-age adults,” two populations at great risk, McAfee said.

However, it’s hard to tell in which direction the relationship between gambling and mental health problems runs, researchers said.

"Does gambling cause mental health problems, or do mental health concerns make someone more likely to develop gambling problems?" senior researcher Rory Pfund said in a news release. He is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Tennessee.

"This study is a foundation for us to advance our knowledge to understand if there is a causal relationship,” he added. 

McAfee said it could be that social situations involving drinking, substance use and gambling add to the risk.

"Many of these social get-togethers are around betting on sports while you're drinking, which of course increases all of your risk factors for all of the above," he said. 

"The next frontier in understanding college student gambling behaviors is understanding how both these social mechanisms and co-occurring alcohol use feed into one another to create a risky environment," McAfee added.

It’s important that students, parents, educators and administrators become aware of the warning signs of gambling addiction, he said.

"When people are withdrawing from friend groups, or when gambling becomes the entirety of their conversation, there's clearly a change happening here," McAfee said. "If you notice changes — whether that's in mood or withdrawing socially — talk to them.

"The stigma around mental health is shifting, but there is still a huge stigma around problem gambling, and that makes people less likely to seek treatment,” McAfee continued. “For a lot of people, they don't know how to ask for help."

More information

The National Problem Gambling Helpline offers help and support for people with a gambling problem.

SOURCE: University of Mississippi, news release, Aug. 11, 2026