In Reply to: Colorado fights back posted by mh on December 19, 2025 at 11:11:40
The UCLA Anderson School of Management in April reported that entire states’ average credit scores took a hit when sports betting was legalized. That’s not just the average credit scores of gamblers, but of everybody in the state.
“Our main finding is that overall consumers’ financial health is modestly deteriorating as the average credit score in states with legalized sports gambling decreases by roughly 0.8 points,” the report said.
“When states introduce access to online sports gambling, average credit scores decline by nearly three times as much (2.75 points). The decline in credit score is associated with changes in indicators of excessive debt.”
Not surprisingly, the researchers also found an increase in other, more serious problems.
“We find a substantial increase in average bankruptcy rates, debt sent to collections, use of debt consolidation loans, and auto loan delinquencies,” the UCLA report said.
“Together, these results indicate that the ease of access to sports gambling is harming consumer financial health by increasing their level of debt.”
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In general, I think moving things from the underground economy to making them legal, but this concerns me.
OTOH, 0.8 in average credit score is a pretty low number.