The presence of these advertisements continues to boom despite the fact that there are states where betting is prohibited. "Giving freedom to this product is a public health problem and it has to be addressed as such," explains Professor of Psychology José César Perales to Público.

Proof of this increase is that citizens of this country in 2023 increased the money they spent on sports betting by 27.8%, exceeding 120 billion dollars. These are data from the American Gaming Association (AGA), which highlights that in this year's Superbowl, bettors spent 340 dollars per person (44% more than in the last edition).

The consequences are already being felt by the country's population. Calls for help to help centres for people with gambling addiction are increasing in several states, such as Ohio, where the Problem Gambling Network registered 55% more calls than the previous year. In an interview with NBC, one citizen, who did not want to reveal his identity, said that he had lost "his marriage, his house and hundreds of thousands of dollars."

There are more and more people affected. And the age range is decreasing. As the affected person told NBC: "At the meetings, I see younger and younger people now. When I started meeting, I was the youngest. I was just over 40 years old," he said. Now, even minors can be found betting. As is the case of Unai Garma, a sports lover who started at 15 years old. "I asked friends for money, I had debts, I started stealing money from home. In the end it becomes a problem," Garma, who is now 27 years old, told this newspaper.

An industry aimed at young people
Perales says that "the sports betting market has been quite clearly oriented towards young people." In this way, the profile of "pathological gamblers" - those who are addicted - has changed in recent years.

Sports betting is made "so that people lose," although it has a certain "skill component," he says. Therefore, "it attracts people who believe they have that skill." "This combination of youth, distorted beliefs about the possibility of making money in the long term and a certain concept linked to gambling is quite common today," adds the expert, who details that "it is a type of player that practically did not exist before and now, however, reaches treatment centers with some frequency."

Normalising gambling from a young age
An example of this new profile is Garma. "Over time you start losing money. I begged friends, I had debts, I started stealing money from home. In the end it became a problem. I didn't pass a single subject and I stopped going to university. I lied to everyone every day," he says.

Before betting, Unai stresses that his first contact with gambling occurred at the age of 12 with La Quiniela. Already in the second year of secondary school, he and his friends began to play poker in their free time after lunch "when there was no ball." According to him, they bet a small amount: "Maybe 5 euros. Nobody said anything to us," he adds.

Now, Unai has not bet for seven years and has a project called A90Grados with which he gives talks, conferences and training sessions with the aim of helping and giving visibility to the dangers of gambling addiction. "We want them to know the negative side of this, because through advertising they show us the positive side. It is necessary for them to see that this world has its dangers and you have to be very careful," he points out.

Video games, an early exposure to gambling
Video games share two characteristics similar to gambling. The first is loot boxes: the user buys a product with real money whose content is completely random. "The most common thing is that you get something of no value at all," explains Perales. The second is "simulated gambling," certain missions consisting of playing a game of poker with virtual currency.

In this way, the child audience of video games is "being exposed to content that is very similar to gambling," adds the expert, who assures that "people who spend money on loot boxes are more likely to spend money on gambling."

This correlation is "under study," says the expert. However, Perales is cautious and tells this medium that "we cannot say with total certainty that people who buy loot boxes will develop gambling addiction as a consequence of this early exposure."

Experts affirm that "the more exposure, the greater the risk"
"In general, the more exposure, the greater the risk. Gambling is an addictive agent. The more you expose yourself to gambling, the easier it is for addiction to take effect. In that sense, it is not very different from any drug of abuse," contextualizes José César Perales.

And it is not easy to distance oneself from the problem when more and more sports competitions (baseball and ice hockey) advocate including gambling in their advertising. The most recent example is the NBA's League Pass platform, which streams the games and includes the option of betting live from your mobile phone without having to take your eyes off the game. It is a "very aggressive marketing strategy," according to the psychologist. "The idea is to take advantage of the fact that if you are a fan of a team, you become a customer of a betting house," he adds.

But it doesn't stop there, the NBA and the players also signed an agreement, which came into force in the 2023/24 season, which allows athletes to invest in sports betting companies, as well as to be able to openly advertise them. "This is a danger and should disappear completely," Unai Garma clarifies.

Although not all players represent that dome that exalts sports betting. There are exceptions, and one of them was Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert. "This is damaging our game. I know that betting and this whole world is getting bigger and bigger, but it shouldn't be like that," he said on March 9 at a press conference at the end of the game after being expelled for making a gesture to the referee insinuating that it was rigged. As a result, he was fined $100,000.

Personalized advertising for self-banned players
There is an option to block advertising from bookmakers and casinos that reaches you on your mobile phone or email. Unai Garma, like other users, made this decision to leave the addiction behind. However, according to Garma, companies ignore this ban to continue promoting their business.

"The industry is a bunch of vultures. I find it very sad that there are people who are self-prohibited and that we receive SMS advertising betting shops. It makes no sense at all. I receive messages from people telling me that they are self-prohibited and they receive messages from betting shops, casinos, etc. This needs to be regulated much more," says Unai Garma.

Both Garma and Perales agree on the importance of "seeking specialized help." The Spanish Federation of Rehabilitated Gamblers has the phone number 900 200 225 available 24 hours a day to help citizens with gambling addiction, as well as having different associations in each province.

Gambling addiction "makes you a person you really are not," Marga recalls, although there is always a "way out." The road is not "easy," but asking for help "will be the best decision of your life. And when you get through this, the peace of mind is eternal," the young man concludes.