Addiction, CMAJ / 04.03.2026

[caption id="attachment_72632" align="aligncenter" width="500"]online-gambling-young-men.jpg Photo by Niek Doup on Unsplash[/caption] MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_72636" align="alignleft" width="200"]Ryan ForrestPublic health doctoral student Dalla Lana School of Public Health University of Toronto Ryan Forrest[/caption] Ryan Forrest Public health doctoral student Dalla Lana School of Public Health University of Toronto MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Over the past decade, there have been major changes to the gambling landscape across North America, including how accessible gambling is, what products are available, and how aggressively gambling is marketed and promoted. Our study focused on Ontario, where several key policy changes created a natural opportunity to examine potential health impacts. Online gambling was introduced through a government-run platform in 2015. In 2021, federal legislation legalized single-event sports betting, enabling new gambling formats. Then, in April 2022, Ontario became the first and only jurisdiction in Canada to open a competitive private online gambling market, allowing private companies,  including some large multinational operators, to offer and heavily advertise gambling products. Many Ontarians experienced a rapid increase in gambling advertising and visibility following this shift. To understand whether these changes were associated with health harms, we examined contacts to ConnexOntario, the province’s mental health and addictions helpline, for gambling-related problems.
Gambling / 18.02.2025

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Atharva Yeola, B.S. The Qualcomm Institute at UC San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We initiated this study because, in the wake of the 2018 Murphy v. NCAA decision, sportsbooks began to proliferate at an unprecedented pace—expanding from a single state in 2017 to 38 states by early 2024. Accompanying that surge, the total amount bet on sports skyrocketed from $4.9 billion in 2017 to $121.1 billion in 2023, with 94% of wagers during 2023 occurring online. However, public health discussions lagged behind this explosive growth. We wanted to gauge whether this rapid adoption of sports betting, especially via easily accessible online platforms, was associated with increases in problem gambling and gambling addiction.
Addiction, Author Interviews, Mental Health Research / 21.01.2019

gambling addictionAn addiction to gambling can be an isolating ordeal that causes havoc among someone’s personal relationships, destroys personal finances, and exacerbates any mental health issues that a person may have. Addiction is rarely an isolated incident. Typically there are many factors at play that can manifest themselves in the form of gambling. By tackling these underlying causes one can treat their addiction and eliminate the toxic habits that created it. In addition to confronting this by oneself, it is important for those who suffer from this to confide in those close to them as well as seeking advice from their doctor. One major issue brought on by any kind of addiction is the sense of alienation that someone can experience. This is where it is important for them to open up to those who are close to them, like a loved one or a close friend. It will help alleviate the burden of struggling alone and will help others to understand what they are going through. Getting in touch with self-help groups can be another means of alleviating the feelings of alienation that addicts can experience while they are treating their compulsive gambling. This provides an outlet for an addict to express what they are going through while simultaneously getting the perspective of others who have struggled in a similar fashion. One of the most important steps to take is the very first one. That is to be able to admit that there is a problem with gambling. Once this has been done, the problem becomes tangible and the addiction can be confronted directly.