The Philadelphia media market, encompassing the city, southeastern Pennsylvania, and central and southern New Jersey, is the top market nationwide for online gambling, write Max Marin and Lizzie Mulvey for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Last year, internet gaming and sports wagering revenues exceeded $6 billion in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, increasing significantly from close to $3.6 billion in 2021.
Alongside the surge in revenue, calls and texts to 1-800-GAMBLER increased dramatically during the same period in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, two of just six states permitting both sports betting and online casino gaming.
The volume of calls rose 180 percent in Pennsylvania and 160 percent in New Jersey. While only one in 10 callers cited gambling as their primary concern in 2019, by last year that number had jumped to one in two.
The Philadelphia media market has seen a flood of online gambling ads, outpacing New York City and Las Vegas, with companies spending over $37 million on advertisements in the city between January and September.
“I don’t think people expected it to explode at this level,” said Uttara Madurai Ananthakrishnan, an economics professor at the University of Washington. “All of this is going to slowly add up and cause a ton of issues downstream.”
Read more about online gambling’s growing prevalent in the Philadelphia market in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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