Are professional athletes particularly at risk of gambling addiction?

It has long been recognised that young male adults up to the age of 25 and those from immigrant backgrounds or with below-average incomes are among the risk groups for gambling addiction. A description that does not really apply to professional athletes. Nevertheless, active sportsmen and women are considered to be "particularly at risk" of gambling addiction. But why is it that top athletes in particular tend to lose control when it comes to gambling?

Just over a month ago we reported on GambleJoe that 1.3 million Germans suffer from a "gambling disorder". According to the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA), young men with a migration background and low income are particularly affected by gambling addiction. At first glance, professional sportsmen and women do not fit this profile. However, according to the German Society of Gambling Addiction (BZgA), people who are particularly active in sport are particularly susceptible to problem gambling or betting behaviour.

Are professional athletes really "at particular risk" of compulsive gambling?

The fact is that there are few valid studies on whether gambling addiction is actually more prevalent among professional athletes than in the general population. It is, however, the case that sports betting addiction is significantly higher among active sportsmen and women.

However, active sportsmen and women do not only include top Bundesliga players, but also millions of amateur players. Active sportsmen and women are particularly susceptible to betting addiction because they are both sports enthusiasts and supposed experts. Just last May we published an article on GambleJoe about how there has never been more manipulation and betting fraud in sport than there is today.

Ulrich Kemper, chairman of the German Society of Gambling Addiction, made similar comments to IPPEN.MEDIA at the society's annual conference:

"We know that people who are active in sport, which of course includes".

Researcher: "Gambling addiction has arrived in the Bundesliga"

Tobias Hayer, a renowned German gambling researcher and psychologist from the University of Bremen, believes that gambling addiction has arrived in the Bundesliga. For younger professional footballers in particular, the subject of sports betting is omnipresent in their everyday lives. In addition, the gambling researcher recognises a profile that can favour betting addiction or gambling addiction in general:

"They are young, male, have a lot of money, hardly any structure in their lives apart from their job and a lot of time on their hands".

However, Hayer also points out that there are no representative studies in this area and that claims should be made with caution. Nearly five years ago, we reported on a player who threatened to kill athletes on Instagram because of his betting addiction.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/spielbank-einsatz-jeton-gewonnen-1003148/