The differences in alcohol frequency while gambling among sports versus non-sports gamblers.

With the drastic increase of sports wagering availability in the United States, there has been a growing body of research investigating the relationship between sports betting and alcohol use behaviors. Of note, there appears to be a link between sports wagering and alcohol consumption. The majority of research has focused on how these two behaviors occur distinct from each other, but there has been limited efforts to examine how these behaviors co-occur. As such, the present work examines frequency of drinking while gambling among individuals who gamble on sports as opposed to those who gamble not on sports. Participants were recruited by YouGov Opinion polling as part of a larger longitudinal study and the present analyses make use of data from the second follow up in spring of 2022. Gambling participants were asked what types of gambling they had participated in the past six months, and were asked about their alcohol use while gambling, as well as the percentage of time gambling that they also drink. Sports gamblers were found to report higher drinking frequency while gambling than non-sports gamblers, as well as at a higher percentage of time. As such, these results suggest a concerning trend among sports gamblers as opposed to non-sports gamblers in drinking behaviors, and may suggest that the recent legislative changes in the United States regarding sports gambling could have larger impacts outside of just gambling frequency.