In the News: Live Gambling Apps: Growing Popularity and Concern

In the News

Mar 11

February 19, 2026

What you need to know:

In-game or “live” betting has taken off in the past few years and is becoming increasingly popular.

Recent news coverage and a new report from Common Sense Media highlight some of the potential concerns, such as gambling addiction and companies targeting people by tracking their online behaviors.
Over half of boys who reported seeing gambling content said they did not actively search for it—it started appearing in their feeds on its own.

Some of us can relate. My friends would often ask me to sign up for a gambling app, and some were using their parents’ credentials to log in and were basically addicted to it.
Companies should be more aware of this and shouldn’t be promoting gambling so heavily to young audiences.
This feels especially timely because there was a lot of sports betting discussion around the Super Bowl, with ads even appearing during the game.
Promoters are taking something already very common in people’s lives (sports) and adding a gambling and monetary component to it.
It’s surprising that younger boys (11 years old) would be gambling more than older boys (14 years old), especially at an age when they may not have the maturity to handle it. They are at risk of building poor habits that can get worse as they get older.
Family influence should be explored more. There need to be clearer conversations about limits and boundaries around gambling.
Boys who experienced higher losses reported very different experiences, which shows how addictive gambling can potentially become.
It may seem fun at first, but it can quickly turn into something addictive.

How might AI influence what appears in boys’ feeds—and could it make them more susceptible to gambling content?
As technology continues to improve, how much stronger could this problem become? If it isn’t addressed soon, will this content start appearing in more and more feeds?
Could this exploit young people who have limited access to other ways of making money, making gambling seem like a solution—even if it ultimately leads to losing money instead?

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Stanford University