Ole Miss Out On Announces College Gambling Center As Concerns Rise Over

The University of Mississippi on Monday announced the upcoming launch of its new Center on Collegiate Gambling, which researchers describe as the "very first of its kind in the country" in the middle of rising nationwide issue about banking on collegiate sports.


The center was approved by the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees in February and will cost about $700,000 a year. It was conceived to study the "heightened threats" for college trainees and student professional athletes caused by the fast growth of legalized sports betting and online gambling, its founders said. Researchers stated the center will now start hiring staff.


IHL ´ s approval of the center follows the release of survey results by University of Mississippi scientists revealing that 39% of Mississippi university student gambled in a range of formats in the past year. Of those who engaged in sports wagering, 6% of Mississippi university student satisfied criteria for issue betting as defined by the American Psychiatric Association.


"We truly believe that this is an issue that impacts Mississippi at large," Hannah Allen-King, executive director of the university ´ s William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing and assistant teacher of public health, said in a press release. "And so, we ´ re trying to deal with our lawmakers as they dispute policy modification around gambling in the state."


Commercial sports wagering was efficiently banned with a few exceptions until 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a 1992 prohibition. Mississippi enables sports wagering now, however just inside casinos.


After the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision, sports betting business introduced a full-court press lobbying campaign to bring sports betting to 10s of countless mobile phones around the nation, an effort reported to be the fastest expansion of legalized gambling in American history. The companies have put money into lobbying state lawmakers, consisting of those in Mississippi.


But Mississippi has actually stayed among the few holdout states, largely due to worries that legalization might harm the bottom line of the state ´ s casinos and increase the frequency of gambling addiction. That hasn ´ t stopped a flourishing black market from taking hold in the state.


In 2024, prohibited online betting in Mississippi made up about 5% of the national prohibited market, which has to do with $3 billion in unlawful bets in Mississippi, supporters said that year. Supporters of legalization state people will place online sports wagers despite whether the is legal, so the state ought to manage and tax it.


The state House has voted, for the 3rd year in a row, to legislate mobile sports wagering throughout the ongoing 2026 legal session. But Senate leaders have stated they plan to let the procedure pass away once again.


Nevertheless, college schools have actually become hubs of activity for sports betting and, progressively, betting dependency. This has triggered require research into mobile sports betting ´ s growth and impact on young people. The brand-new center will intend to produce such research, which its creators state is lacking without a national research study center in the U.S. devoted exclusively to the study of college betting.


The scholastic research will focus on college trainee betting behaviors varying from card games to proposal betting and forecast markets. The center will also promote "evidence-based policies and programs to prevent damage," including training therapists to assist trainees dealing with gambling.


Eight University of Mississippi therapists have already received the certification to better equip them to identify gambling dependency in trainees, the researchers said.


The increase of college gambling has also caused increased risks directed at athletes, whose efficiency is now closely tracked by bettors.


"In a state like Mississippi where we don ´ t have a great deal of professional sports groups, college sports are such a huge part of our culture, and a big part of our state population follows and appreciates college sports," Allen-King stated. "We ´ ve seen that it can affect the mental health of student-athletes who are getting threatened and bugged due to the fact that individuals are losing cash because of their performance throughout video games.


Daniel Durkin, an associate professor of social work who is also among the center ´ s establishing members, said raising awareness of sports betting ´ s occurrence on college schools will be a main goal.


"Part of the problem today is everybody ´ s simply enjoying," Durkin stated. "Take a look at the advertisements; betting ´ s enjoyable. Everybody ´ s doing it. The seriousness of the problems has not really come to the forefront yet, but it ´ s just a matter of time."


This story was originally released by Mississippi Today and distributed through a collaboration with The Associated Press.