Online Gambling: A New Risk for Teens, and How the Right Therapy Can Help
Why Online Gambling Is Rising Among Teens and Young Adults
In our work at Crossbridge, we’re hearing more and more about online gambling from teens, young adults, and their parents. This mirrors what we see in the research literature and media reports from the National Institutes of Health, University of Michigan Medicine, and the Child Mind Institute.
Since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that opened the door to legalized sports betting in the U.S., more than half of states now allow some form of online gambling, including sports books and online casinos. For teens and young adults, who already spend much of their day on phones and laptops, that means 24/7 access to gambling platforms, often with very few barriers.
Parents often underestimate this risk. In one national U.S. poll, only 2% of parents believed their teen had used an online betting platform, yet 1 in 6 parents admitted they probably wouldn’t know if their teen was betting online. Two‑thirds of parents reported that their teen already has a bank or debit card, which makes it remarkably easy to sign up for gambling apps without parental awareness.
Across studies, online gambling among youth is not rare: 5–15% of adolescents report gambling online, and 40–70% gamble offline, despite being under the legal gambling age. Among adolescents who gamble online, rates of problematic or disordered gambling are significantly higher than among those who only gamble offline. One review found that online gamblers are three to eight times more likely to show problematic gambling than non‑online gamblers.
What Online Gambling Does to the Brain—and Why ADHD Brains Are Vulnerable
There’s a biological reason why the adolescent brain, and especially the ADHD brain, is so vulnerable to online gambling. Online gambling taps directly into the brain’s reward circuitry. Every bet offers a fast hit of anticipation, uncertainty, and potential reward, and that combination is especially potent for the adolescent brain.
Neuroimaging and behavioral studies show that problem gambling is associated with dysregulation in dopamine pathways and reward systems, similar to what we see in substance use disorders. Near‑misses, unpredictable outcomes, and intermittent wins all trigger dopamine surges that keep teens chasing the next payoff, even when they’re losing overall.
For adolescents with ADHD, this is a perfect storm:
· ADHD is associated with altered dopamine signaling and a chronically under‑stimulated reward system, which makes fast, high‑intensity rewards especially appealing.
· Put those together, and the rapid, high‑stimulation nature of online betting feels like it was designed for the ADHD brain: fast, exciting, instantly accessible, and always ready with “one more” chance to win.
What starts as entertainment can quickly become a primary way to manage boredom, emotional distress, or low self‑worth, exactly the same pattern we see with substances and other behavioral addictions.
Why Online Gambling Is So Hard to Spot
Several features make online gambling uniquely hard for families and providers to detect:
· Familiar, game‑like interfaces. Many platforms look and feel like video games teens already play, using points, bonuses, and streaks that blur the line between “fun” and “real money.” Teens often feel like they’re “just playing a game,” even when real dollars are at stake.
· Constant advertising and celebrity endorsements. Online sports and casino betting ads are now everywhere, often featuring athletes and entertainers teens admire, with messages about easy wins, excitement, and social status.
· Easy access, anonymity, and speed. Teens can gamble privately on a phone, with high‑speed internet allowing rapid bets and instant outcomes, often at small stakes that don’t look dangerous at first. It’s not uncommon for a teen to place dozens, even over 100, bets in a single day.
· Payment tools teens control. Prepaid debit cards, teen bank accounts, and online payment services can all be used to fund gambling accounts, sometimes with fewer safeguards than traditional credit cards.
Teens can also quickly erase browser histories, hide apps in folders, or move between platforms. By the time parents notice missing money or big mood swings around sports events, a pattern may already be entrenched and a significant amount of money lost.
What Problem Online Gambling Looks Like in Teens and Young Adults
Research on adolescents and young adults shows a continuum from casual gambling to at‑risk, problem, and disordered gambling.
Key points:
· A small percentage of all teens meet criteria for an online gambling disorder (around 0.9–1%), but among teens who gamble online, the proportion with significant problems is much higher.
· Problematic online gambling is linked with depression, anxiety, stress, substance use, problematic internet use, and internet gaming disorder.
· Earlier onset of online gambling is associated with more severe problems and more serious psychosocial consequences over time.
· Boys are currently overrepresented among problematic online gamblers, but rates among girls and young women are rising.
Red flags for families and providers can include:
· Secretive phone or computer use tied to games or sporting events.
· Unexplained charges, disappearing cash, or repeated requests for “extra” money.
· Extreme mood swings based on wins or losses.
· Preoccupation with odds, bets, or sports statistics beyond typical fandom.
· Declining grades, sleep disruption, or increased irritability and anxiety.
A layer that often goes unspoken is shame. Many teens feel deep guilt and embarrassment about how much they’ve lost or how out of control they feel, which makes them more likely to hide, lie, or minimize, further isolating them and making it harder to ask for help.
How Residential and Therapeutic Programs Address Online Gambling
When outpatient therapy, school support, and parent work are not enough, and a teen is truly stuck in risky patterns, residential programs and therapeutic boarding schools can play an important role. This is especially true when online gambling is part of a broader picture of impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, ADHD, or co‑occurring substance use.
Well‑designed residential programs tackle online gambling on several fronts.
1. Safety and Environmental Control
This environmental reset:
· Interrupts the cue–craving–bet cycle that is nearly impossible to manage when a smartphone is always within reach.
· Reduces opportunities for impulsive late‑night betting, which is common in youth.
· Gives the clinical and milieu team space to work on underlying drivers without new financial or emotional crises every few days.
It’s not simply about “taking the phone.” It’s about creating a structured, supervised environment where access to high‑risk platforms is thoughtfully managed while the young person learns new skills.
2. Assessment, Psychoeducation, and Reducing Shame
Quality residential programs screen specifically for online gambling, alongside substances, gaming, and other digital behaviors.
They typically:
· Clarify how much and how often a teen is gambling
· Map connections between gambling, mood, trauma, ADHD, or family stress
· Provide psychoeducation about probability, “house edge,” and the ways platforms are engineered to keep players chasing losses
This is also where programs begin to address shame and guilt. Many adolescents are stunned, and deeply ashamed, when staff walk them through their transaction history and calculate actual losses. A non‑shaming, clinical response (“This is what these apps are designed to do; let’s understand how your brain got hooked and what we can do about it”) is crucial in helping teens move from secrecy to openness and willingness to change.
3. Treating the Underlying Drivers
Problematic online gambling almost never exists in isolation. It’s strongly linked with impulsivity, immature self‑regulation, high sensation‑seeking, and emotional distress.
Residential programs can:
· Treat co‑occurring anxiety, depression, ADHD, or trauma with appropriate therapy and medication management.
· Use CBT and DBT‑informed approaches to build distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and impulse control.
· Help teens identify the function gambling serves (excitement, escape, social status, numbing out) and then experiment with healthier ways to meet those same needs.
For neurodivergent teens—especially those with ADHD or autism, programs that understand executive functioning and social‑communication profiles can adjust expectations and supports accordingly, rather than framing everything as “bad choices.”
4. Skill‑Building and Relapse Prevention
Residential treatment is not only about stopping gambling in the moment; it’s about preparing teens to return to a world where gambling ads and apps are everywhere.
Effective programs:
· Teach practical skills: managing money, using banking apps with limits, recognizing cognitive distortions (“I’m due for a win”), and setting self‑exclusion or spending caps where possible.
· Practice scripts for peer situations (“I’m not betting, but I’ll still watch the game”).
· Develop individualized relapse‑prevention plans that anticipate sports seasons, major events, and known triggers.
Because adolescents are living in a 24/7 community, staff have daily opportunities to coach them through urges, disappointments, and small wins in real time—not just in a 50‑minute weekly session.
5. Family Work and Aftercare Planning
High‑quality programs involve families throughout treatment.
That often includes:
· Parent education about online gambling, financial safeguards, monitoring options, and realistic expectations for recovery
· Family therapy to rebuild communication, renegotiate limits, and repair trust
· A concrete aftercare plan covering phone access, banking controls, supervision, and ongoing therapy once the teen returns home
The goal is not to create a “gambling‑free bubble” that bursts the day a young person discharges. It is to help the teen and family build a more sustainable, safer way of living in a world where online gambling is here to stay.
For Parents and Providers: When to Consider a Higher Level of Care
Residential care is not the first step for every teen who places a few bets with friends. But it may be appropriate when:
· There is clear evidence of online gambling disorder or significant financial, academic, or emotional harm.
· The teen cannot or will not stop despite outpatient therapy, clear family limits, and school support.
· Online gambling is occurring alongside other high‑risk behaviors (substance use, self‑harm, runaway behavior).
· Family life has become dominated by crisis management, and safety or stability at home is compromised.
In those situations, the question shifts from “How do we get them to stop gambling?” to “What level of structure and support will keep this young person safe while they learn to relate to money, risk, technology, and their own emotions in a fundamentally different way?”
For some teens and young adults, a thoughtfully chosen residential program or therapeutic boarding school is a critical part of that answer, interrupting dangerous patterns, preserving education, and giving them a real chance to build a life where gambling is no longer in the driver’s seat.
If your teen or young adult has fallen into problematic online gambling, and you are seeking solutions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to www.teamcrossbridge.com. Rebekah Jordan and Jennifer Benson are ready to support.
