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Gambling and Substance Use: Early Evidence From Sports Betting Laws

Kabir Dasgupta & Keshar Ghimire

Health Economics2026https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.70088article
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

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.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.70088

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@article{kabir2026,
  title        = {{Gambling and Substance Use: Early Evidence From Sports Betting Laws}},
  author       = {Kabir Dasgupta & Keshar Ghimire},
  journal      = {Health Economics},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.70088},
}

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Gambling and Substance Use: Early Evidence From Sports Betting Laws

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.