{"title":"Gambling and Substance Use: Early Evidence From Sports Betting Laws.","authors":"Kabir Dasgupta, Keshar Ghimire","doi":"10.1002/hec.70088","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous research documents a strong association between gambling and substance use, suggesting that these seemingly distinct behaviors may share similar environmental, neurobiological, and genetic causes. However, there is a dearth of credible empirical evidence on whether gambling has a causal impact on substance use or vice versa. This paper estimates the impact of gambling on substance use making use of the rapid roll-out of sports betting laws across US states. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and a difference-in-difference (DID) estimation strategy to assess the impact of legalizing sports betting on smoking and drinking behavior among adults, we find that the legalization of online sports betting has increased binge drinking frequency-at the intensive margin among young men by approximately 10 percent, but find no discernible impact on smoking. The results are consistent across traditional two-way fixed effects models as well as more recently developed DID methods designed for staggered treatment adoption.</p>","PeriodicalId":12847,"journal":{"name":"Health economics","volume":" ","pages":"851-865"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13126096/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Health economics","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.70088","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/3/11 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
Previous research documents a strong association between gambling and substance use, suggesting that these seemingly distinct behaviors may share similar environmental, neurobiological, and genetic causes. However, there is a dearth of credible empirical evidence on whether gambling has a causal impact on substance use or vice versa. This paper estimates the impact of gambling on substance use making use of the rapid roll-out of sports betting laws across US states. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and a difference-in-difference (DID) estimation strategy to assess the impact of legalizing sports betting on smoking and drinking behavior among adults, we find that the legalization of online sports betting has increased binge drinking frequency-at the intensive margin among young men by approximately 10 percent, but find no discernible impact on smoking. The results are consistent across traditional two-way fixed effects models as well as more recently developed DID methods designed for staggered treatment adoption.
期刊介绍：
This Journal publishes articles on all aspects of health economics: theoretical contributions, empirical studies and analyses of health policy from the economic perspective. Its scope includes the determinants of health and its definition and valuation, as well as the demand for and supply of health care; planning and market mechanisms; micro-economic evaluation of individual procedures and treatments; and evaluation of the performance of health care systems.
Contributions should typically be original and innovative. As a rule, the Journal does not include routine applications of cost-effectiveness analysis, discrete choice experiments and costing analyses.
Editorials are regular features, these should be concise and topical. Occasionally commissioned reviews are published and special issues bring together contributions on a single topic. Health Economics Letters facilitate rapid exchange of views on topical issues. Contributions related to problems in both developed and developing countries are welcome.
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