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ER visits for gambling disorders doubled after expanded online gambling market
- BugsJustFindMe 18d ago> "Emergency room visits for gambling disorders" Huh? > "More than 70 per cent of gambling disorder emergency department visits involved another mental health condition or heavy substance use and almost one-third of the visits led to hospital admission." Ok, so I assume they mean that these emergency visits were for things like drug overdoses and psychotic episodes in people led to by their gambling disorders, not for the gambling disorders themselves. What a strange way of writing this up. A gambling disorder is a chronic problem, not an acute one. There's a difference between "emergency visit for X" where you treat X and "emergency visit (for Y) because of X" where you treat Y proximal to X, and people could learn to be more discerning in their use and interpretation of language.
- redsocksfan45 18d ago[dead]
- MBCook 18d agoYeah, that was kind of odd. Maybe they also mean suicidality after ending up in a ton of debt? Or just other self-harm because of it? Personally, I really don’t like the expansion of legalized gambling. I’m not surprised it’s causing serious issues. I would at least be more OK if it happened but advertising was heavily restricted/banned in context. The fact that every professional sport seems to be nothing but a thin wrapper around gambling ads now can’t possibly be good for us as a society.
- pas 18d ago> emergency department visits in which a gambling disorder was recorded as either the main or a contributing reason for the visit.
- ghostbrainalpha 18d agoI wonder how many were for suicide attempts after a huge loss specifically.
- pas 18d ago> emergency department visits in which a gambling disorder was recorded as either the main or a contributing reason for the visit. from the study > An ED visit for a gambling disorder was defined on the basis of the clinical judgement of the treating team and was identified when ICD-10 codes F63.0 (pathological gambling) or Z726 (gambling or betting problems) were coded as the main or contributing reason for the visit. > In 29.3% of these ED visits, a gambling disorder was listed as the primary cause of the visit,
- BugsJustFindMe 18d agoContributing reason, sure, but main reason makes no sense.
- pas 18d agoapparently there's an ICD code for it i guess if someone gets a meltdown (mental breakdown) after losing a lot of money
- BugsJustFindMe 18d agoThat definitely still seems like contributing. Also, the ICD ontology specifically exists for billing purposes and isn't the same as patient diagnostic classification, though there is overlap and people do mistakenly use it as such sometimes. But there's a difference between "emergency visit for X" (treat X) and "emergency visit because of X" (treat Y proximal to X). (I also edited my original comment to include this last part, since it seems likely to create confusion)
- pas 18d agothere's a difference in semantics between clinical reason and billing, agreed, though it seems that the news article did not sensationalize the study, and the study uses at least one valid code that can be a primary reason for a visit, and while I'm absolutely just a random dog on the internet, for me the overlap in meaning seems significant to warrant the use of this term. https://icdlist.com/icd-10/F63.0 https://icdlist.com/icd-10/F63.0 https://icdlist.com/icd-10/Z72.6 https://icdlist.com/icd-10/Z72.6 "The code is not accepted as a principal diagnosis "
- autoexec 18d agoThe paper lists the mental health conditions as "anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorders, self-harm, acute stress reaction and other". I'm surprised that multiple people went into the ER to seek treatment for a gambling addiction without being flagged for anything else. It seems like there should be a better place for people looking for help to go.
- ntonozzi 18d agoPrivately funded health care solves this.
- john_strinlai 18d agoit'd be cool if you expanded on that thought for the rest of us
- ntonozzi 17d agoNobody would go to the ER for a gambling disorder if they had to personally pay for it.
- deleted 18d ago[deleted]
- dpflan 18d agoOur incredible brains are easily high-jacked. Another concerning trend in global/societal mental health that stresses different parts of it (e.g. increased ER visits). If the entirety of humanity is a connected mind let's say, and more and more parts of it are being damaged by companies that capitalize on "flaws" in the human brain -- which means our shared mentality keeps weakening and can be exploited more and more. It's just so much easier now because there is a machine in your pocket full of endless ways to high-jack your mind and attention. We live in really crazy/fascinating times, accelerating human problems at "internet scale".
- pixl97 18d agoIt is interesting how we actually ended up forming societies and cultures with how many little broken things occur in our minds. I guess as the saying goes "What doesn't kill you leaves you a hollow broken shell to pump out more copies of your DNA".
- convolvatron 18d agomaybe its the other way around. my wife and I are pretty 'special', but when we step in to try to make up the different for each other we're a little more basically functional.
- iaaan 18d agoOrganizing into communities and societies is absolutely what has allowed humanity to prosper beyond the sum of its parts. Our propensity for both idealism and shame, while being deeply intertwined with our vulnerability to highjacking, are also things that allow us to imagine something better and strive to achieve it. There's nothing that brings out shame better than the presence of other people, and nothing more inspiring than working well together with others towards a common goal.
- dpflan 18d agoThere is also the direction of influencing those in charge of creating laws and orders and ways to prevent society from collapsing. Law makers who give in to lobbying -- I mean some of these prices points are quite low: $XX,XXX to get someone to vote "yes" for a thing that impacts millions of constituents and earns the lobbying orders of magnitude more than the payout. That is excellent ROI.
- geooff_ 18d ago> In 2024, Ontarians wagered $82.7 billion CAD on these sites through 2.6 million player accounts. Truly astounding numbers. Without a doubt, online gambling is the most preventable public health crisis of our generation. None of this had any business getting legalized.
- jLaForest 18d agoAn average of $31807 per person...
- petcat 18d agoIt's a long tail. The vast majority make $20 parlay wagers here and there and they're the real cash cow. And then there are the degens that make $2,000, or $5,000 wagers on everything because otherwise "what's the point?". Short of outright banning (which I would favor), we can at least make mobile wagers capped at say $100 and the same account can't wager more that $500 within a 24 hour period. That would allow people to have their fun but seriously limit the blast radius when they inevitably lose big repeatedly.
- fn-mote 18d ago> The vast majority make $20 parlay wagers here and there and they're the real cash cow. You got the meaning of "whale" wrong. The majority of the winnings / losings come from the "long tail" addicts. > And then there are the degens that make $2,000, or $5,000 wagers on everything because [they are addicted] I think my edit more accurately reflects what is going on. You need to put more time into the proposal if you want to make it serious. How long would it take for people to learn they need "alt accounts" to gamble? Suggestions: 1. Ban advertising of gambling. 2. Ban "remote" gambling including phone apps. What would it take to make progress on this in the current regulatory environment? Post a link to someone who has thought about it.
- DANmode 18d ago> Ban "remote" gambling including phone apps. So gambling will be limited to anyone with AnyDesk? > What would it take to make progress on this in the current regulatory environment? Banning cryptocurrency as a concept, banning fantasy sports betting (shown as credits, settled in dollars in person or out-of-band), banning Tor, I could go on. But the real lever would be to make it illegal! Which, it was, in many jurisdictions. Now it’s splashed all over every NFL broadcast, as you alluded to with your advertising portion.
- alex1138 18d agoI'm getting sick of the ads. It's in every NHL commercial break, Rogan (though I don't know about it now) has them as sponsors Guys, it's predatory. Stop
- cindyllm 18d ago[dead]
- tt24 18d agoLet me guess - because some people are unable to consume this form of entertainment responsibly, we have to make it illegal for everyone? Makes sense. While we’re at it let’s kick the war on drugs back into high gear, reinstate prohibition, and make other higher risk behavior illegal.
- superb_dev 18d agoWe don’t have to fully outlaw gambling or other forms of high risk entertainment, but we absolutely should be outlawing the pervasive advertising these companies are doing. You can’t enjoy sports these days without dodging tons of ads for betting platforms
- tt24 18d agoI don’t see why advertisement for gambling is any more offensive than advertisement for any other form of entertainment
- ImJamal 18d agoWatching a TV show or a movie that you saw a commercial for isn't going to bankrupt you and cause you to lose your house.
- tt24 18d agoShould we ban advertisement for skydiving and other such high risk behavior?
- ImJamal 18d agoI haven't looked much into the Canadian levels, but I assume they are similar to the US. Some stats might not be quite right, but... Something like .15% of the US population skydive a year. Almost none of them die. I've seen estimates that over 5% of the US population gamble at a "problem" level and about 0.5% to 1% are outright addicted. About 20% of those addicted have a suicide attempt. Americans who skydive in the US will be about the same number of Americans who attempt suicide due to gambling issues. Skydiving is quite safe so the death rate is so minimal. The scale between the two is just so different.
- rdm_blackhole 18d agoUnfortunately I fail to empathise with gamblers not because I think they deserve to be afflicted by this disease but simply because I have never found gambling appealing as an activity. I bought a few lottery tickets when the prize reaches astronomical proportions but it was always a case of going along and doing it with family/friends just for fun. I guess I could understand the appeal if the chances to actually win something were pretty good but it’s a well known fact that the house always wins in the end.
- john_strinlai 18d ago>I fail to empathise with gamblers [...] because I have never found gambling appealing as an activity. that was a strange sentence to read! the whole point with empathy is being able to do it despite not sharing the same feelings or point of view. it's putting yourself in their shoes, and attempting to understand the things they would feel. maybe you meant you can't "relate to" or "identify with" or something
- chucksta 18d agoThere is a double digit percentage of Americans who are relying on winning the lottery for retirement. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-millennials-would-rather-buy-lottery-tickets-than-invest-in-the-stock-market-203011209.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-millennials-would-rather-...
- deleted 18d ago[deleted]
- nullc 18d agoI have never felt anything about gambling. Most boring thing ever. I don't feel anything about investment, and wrote automation to track mine because it's all so boring. I wouldn't tempt fate to try to expose myself more, but it doesn't seem like I contain whatever is required to form these addictions. Has it been studied if some people are just much more vulnerable than others, and are there predictive factors?
- bunderbunder 18d agoYes. One interesting example is that compulsive gambling is a side effect of a certain class of drugs for treating Parkinson’s disease. https://parkinsonsjournal.com/en/parkinsons-disease/gambling-disorder https://parkinsonsjournal.com/en/parkinsons-disease/gambling...
- fragmede 18d agoAnother interesting thing is that GLP-1s anecdotally treat compulsive gambling.
- mrguyorama 18d agoThat's because parkisons drugs can upregulate a certain protein that is implicated in all forms of addiction that feature that kind of "seeking" behavior and modification of the reward system! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSB#Role_in_addiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSB#Role_in_addiction We found that if you give an addicted rat a chemical which suppresses the expression of this gene, it will improve their addiction situation, reduce seeking behaviors, etc. We found that in 2015.
- deleted 18d ago[deleted]
- pavel_lishin 18d agoI feel the same way - it's just not fun for me. I like playing poker with my friends, but I like the social aspect of it - putting down $20 on the table is no different than buying a few beers at a bar, and I don't care if I come out of the game with more or less money. Going to a casino, which I've done a few times, is just wildly disinteresting. But I know I'm prone to other sorts of addictions, so I guess gambling is somehow different.
- apitman 18d agoA few months ago I read an article that compared vibe coding to gambling[0] and I've found it a useful model. [0]: maybe this one: https://www.fast.ai/posts/2026-01-28-dark-flow/ https://www.fast.ai/posts/2026-01-28-dark-flow/
- kfarr 18d agoTotally helpful and I believe accurate. I find the times where I’m actually most productive with coding agents are not super fun, instead it’s iterative manual qa and code review hell. But while that actually results in good, usable code it’s not addictive, quite the opposite it feels like work. Whereas starting from scratch vibe coding a whatever-ma-jigger sure feels like a blast until I actually start pushing at edge cases.
- johnnyApplePRNG 18d agoOut of seemingly nowhere a few years ago, the canadian local landscape changed overnight. I feel like I am walking around las vegas half the time. Virtually every corner store has turned into those english sports betting pubs or whatever they have all over England. It's disgusting.
- petesergeant 18d ago> those english sports betting pubs ... a betting shop, you mean?
- johnnyApplePRNG 18d agoah bloody hell mate!
- baggachipz 18d agoI was passively watching the NFL pregame last weekend, and they straight up had gambling-sponsored segments where they showed live odds for all sorts of events/stats for the day's games. It's become completely pervasive in the span of a couple years. But I live in the US, aka Biff Tannen's Pleasure Palace.
- johnnyApplePRNG 18d agoMay you find the flux capacitor to your time machine, my friend.
- dd8601fn 18d agoAre those just like a room full of a few rows of video gambling terminals and basically nothing else? We have those near me (US) now. I don’t even like seeing them. They’re kind of depressing.
- r3trohack3r 18d ago> Emergency room visits for gambling disorders Are Canadian ERs different than ERs in the U.S.? Why would one go to an emergency room, seek emergency treatment, for a gambling disorder?
- john_strinlai 18d agois the sense that it wont immediately bankrupt you, yes, they are different. but my skimming of the study itself is that something else occurs (mental episode of some sort, such as anxiety attacks or suicide attempts, etc.) and gambling is noted as a primary or contributing factor in the billing code. it does not appear like someone wakes up, realizes they have an addiction to gambling, and then walks into the ER.
- stronglikedan 18d ago> is the sense that it wont immediately bankrupt you, yes, they are different. also in the sense that you'll wait for a looong time to get treatment
- deleted 18d ago[deleted]
- john_strinlai 18d agothe reason i brought up cost is because gambling addicts having a mental crisis are not typically sitting on piles of cash. a canadian gambling addict would be more willing to visit the ER than a us one because of the cost of the visit. the pay vs. wait argument is a fun one, but im not super interested in hashing it out here
- lurker_72 18d agoMaybe, maybe not. Our system is based on triage so if you are in dire need you go first. A few years ago I thought I broke some ribs in a snowboarding accident (turns out it was just 3 cracked ribs). Got to the ER, was given some pain medication and help breathing and was waiting for treatment when someone ran over 2 elderly people in front of the hospital. Their need was greater than mine so they took priority while I spent about 6 hours waiting. Last week I had my first heart attack. In this case I was the one that was immediately helped, stabilized, transferred to another hospital where they installed 2 stents and then back to my local hospital ICU all within 2 hours. If it weren’t for our system I would not be here today. Most stories about hours in ER waiting rooms simply don't take the severity of the issue into account and just generalize. Not saying that there are not issues, but I am so tired of the blanket anecdotal complaints
- JumpCrisscross 18d agoHow does someone at the ER for gambling addiction present?
- Maxatar 18d agoThe study addresses it. You don't walk into an ER and say "Doctor I have a gambling addiction.", rather you typically present as having a suicide attempt, intoxication or drug overdose, psychosis, or panic attack. During the assessment the treating team identifies the main contributing reason for one of the above listed conditions and there are two specific codes available if gambling is one of the primary contributors.
- whatever1 18d agoAll gambling should be state owned. It is a strict societal loss anyway, we can at least soften the overall blow. Losses can be redistributed and cover for the externalities of gambling. And we will be able to control the knob on how addictive we make them. For profit companies have the target to maximize their profit, so of course they will ramp up any method that can bring in more revenue.
- pstuart 18d agoPretty much agree. But even then, the state should not be incentivizing its use (looking you, CA lottery and friends). Gambling is a drug, and should be recognized as such.
- ffsm8 18d agoAdrenaline is the drug, ain't it ... And gambling is just one way to leverage it. However once you realize that gambling is not the drug, and merely something that triggers your body to create a rush... Then can you really call it a drug? At least any more then any other of those activities? Eg Skydiving and basically any other extreme sports. And once you're there, you should really realize that it's not worth the sacrifice. This is a societal issue and should not be addressed with legislation. The only thing that can be safely regulated are things like disallowing marketing.
- nrb 18d agoDopamine, and many drugs trigger it in the same way as gambling.
- toomuchtodo 18d agoWe should try GLP-1s. It patches the brain's reward center. GLP-1 drugs may fight addiction across every major substance - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47280797 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47280797 - March 2026 GLP-1 medications get at the heart of addiction: study - https://medicine.washu.edu/news/glp-1-medications-get-at-the-heart-of-addiction-study/ https://medicine.washu.edu/news/glp-1-medications-get-at-the... - March 4th, 2026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45907422 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45907422 (citations) There is a fentanyl vaccine approaching human trials, but I don't believe its mechanism works close enough to the reward center. Maybe gene therapy is a long term fix as it relates to the reward center dysfunction, to be determined. HN Search: fentanyl vaccine - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=fentanyl%20vaccine&sort=byDate&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... Resetting the Brain’s Reward Pathway: Gene Therapy’s Breakthrough in Alcohol Addiction - https://scitechdaily.com/resetting-the-brains-reward-pathway-gene-therapys-breakthrough-in-alcohol-addiction/ https://scitechdaily.com/resetting-the-brains-reward-pathway... - August 20th, 2023
- jacobgold 18d agoVegas was such a great solution to gambling for Americans. We had it contained to a specific place, making it easy to access but also easy to avoid. Cryptocurrency, which turned into just another form of gambling, seems to have been the corrupting influence that allowed it to spread into people's homes. I hope we can reverse it somehow.
- gleezard 18d ago[dead]
- freediddy 18d agoWhy did it result in an emergency room visit? Did they try to self-harm or something because of losses?
- Maxatar 18d agoYes, gambling prevalence is direct related to suicide.
- quickthrowman 18d agoI’m confused, are these suicide attempts due to gambling addiction or is it mental health ER patients looking to enter a gambling addiction treatment program? I’m having a hard time thinking of any other reason that a gambling addiction would cause someone to visit the ER.
- geodel 18d agoHmm, I was expecting it would halve, once gamblers get their fill.
- sixsevenrot 18d agoSo there is more awareness of the problem, gambling ads are required to publish a helpline number. Most of the gamers have other psychological disorders. Thus it's awareness + more consistent asking for help + regular naming of gambling among other problems. What is the number of non-gamblers that started gambling and ended up in ER and would not have eneded up in ER if gambling wasn't available?
- deinonychus 18d agogood news for cancer and CVD at this rate, in 40 years 100% of ER visits will be due to gambling disorders. really a triumph in public health
- moribvndvs 18d agoBack when legalized gambling was on the ballot for my state, I was enthusiastic supportive, even though I don’t enjoy gambling personally. I conflated these bans with a sort of religious and social nannying, an affront to individual liberties and denying a legal livelihood for something people will do anyways. Legalizing gambling was a step in liberating society from churches and the state. Considering I had no skin in the game, I ignorantly downplayed mental health claims. Years later, I not only regret my support but am deeply embarrassed by it. Since then, I’ve watched an alarming number of friends and coworkers slip into erratic and reckless patterns of anti-social behavior and self harm. People I never would have expected. No economic or social renaissance has followed as proponents might have claimed back in the day. The casinos around me are large, costly, seedy, hopelessly depressing dumps littered with equally depressing people that stink of desperation and delusion. The expansion, normalization, and corporatization of traditional gambling and prediction markets is accelerating degeneracy and letting low rent hucksters strip mine countries where they are legal and leave the rest of us paying the bill. I think they are a genuine risk to the health and safety of society.