A Generation of Gamblers Trapped in the System
By Zainab Syed, Sports & Societies Staff Writer ,BA Politics and International Relations
Sports betting used to be a deliberate act. A trip to the betting shop, cash in hand, fully aware you were placing a gamble. Now, it doesn’t feel like a choice at all. Betting has been woven into broadcasts, entwined through commentary, and embedded in the very apps young people already use to follow their favourite teams and athletes. In this quiet merging lies a broader concern: a generation drawn into betting through smooth access, social pressure, and digital habits that entrench harmful behaviours.
The shift begins with the apps. Signing up takes seconds, depositing money happens instantly through Apple Pay, and live odds constantly update. Once you’re in, you're surrounded by a continuous stream of betting options waiting just a click away. Social media reinforces this pull with influencer predictions and bet promotions sliding into feeds. What makes it more slippery is the illusion of digital money, so placing another wager one after another feels weightless. Access has never been easier, and with that ease comes the danger of habit.
But convenience is not the whole story. Betting is now an almost integral part of the ritual of watching sports. Placing a small wager can feel like cheering the team on, as friends come together to add their own little stakes around the game. This lighthearted framing obscures a harder truth: that it is still a gamble, a genuine financial risk. According to the Annual Student Gambling Survey 2025 by YGAM, ‘nearly one in three students who gamble say they are influenced by friends, whilst one in four cite social media’. That influence matters. When betting is reinforced by your social circle and fed through your algorithm, it stops becoming playful and feels like a cycle you can’t escape.
The deeper impact, however, occurs inside the brain. Gambling triggers dopamine, the neurotransmitter tied to anticipation and reward. A near-win or small payout produces a surge followed by a dip, nudging the user to chase the next thrill. Add that to the constant barrage of short-form content and endless scrolling, which have already conditioned young people to crave instant, frequent rewards, and you have an audience wired for immediate gratification. Betting apps mirror this need with live cash-outs and instant updates, creating a feedback loop that encourages repeated, sometimes compulsive engagement. Gradually, the small bursts of dopamine become the main source of the excitement, and the natural enjoyment of simply watching a sport fades away.
Take football, for example. A single live bet can turn a ninety-minute game into a chain of micro-adrenaline moments. For young fans following real-time stats or checking updates on their phone, the excitement often comes less from the team’s performance and more from the money riding on each event. Every pass, every goal, every turnover turns into a split-second wager. That unpredictability challenges how they now watch sports, and what starts as curiosity can quickly feel like a necessary part of the experience, blurring the line between watching as a fan or as a gambler.
The real-life consequences for students are serious. The YGAM Annual Student Gambling Survey 2025 claims that ‘Almost one in ten are influenced by university societies, and 40% say it has affected their university experience, and one in ten have struggled to afford food’. When gambling begins to shape something as fundamental as a student’s ability to study, socialise, or meet basic needs, the issue stretches far beyond ‘a bit of fun’. It exposes how deeply the habit can embed itself into daily life. Once betting becomes attached to the way young people experience sport, the harms don’t just stay on screen, but spread into real life.
If we accept that betting is now woven into youth sports culture, the challenge is understanding what this shift means for the future of fandom. As uninterrupted access, social influence, and dopamine-driven habits continue to converge, the danger is that watching sport becomes secondary, and gambling dominates the experience. The real question is, then, how can we ensure the next generation can enjoy sport for its passion and community, rather than for the bet behind every moment?
