North Carolinians spent $463 million on sports wagering in August, up 30% over August 2024. (Photo: Getty Images/bluecinema)
North Carolina’s Problem Gambling Helpline answered more than 8,100 calls in the last fiscal year, more than an 11% increase from 2024.
The numbers were unveiled Wednesday by Amanda Winters, the state’s problem gambling program administrator, at the North Carolina State Lottery Commission’s September meeting.
Winters said over the past 16 years, the lottery has always been the primary reason people called the helpline. This year, sports betting was the top reason. Casinos came in second.
“When we looked at the demographics in the helpline of sports betting compared to non-sports betting, we found that the people who were calling were of a younger age between 18 and 34,” said Winters. “And with sports betting, people were likely to experience the problem for less than one year, which means that they went from no harm or minimal risk to severe risk within a shorter time span.”
That differs from non-sports bettors who tend to be slightly older (age 24-44) and may have gambled longer (more than three years) before realizing there was a problem.
Members of the North Carolina State Lottery Commission meet on Sept. 24, 2025. (Photo from livestream)
One troubling trend is that sports bettors were less likely to accept treatment, Winters said. They were, however, more likely to text or chat, something that correlates to the younger age-range of participants.
The report also revealed that when it came to how others were affected, 25% of those seeking help were spouses of non-sports bettors. In the case of sports-betting, 50% of the calls were coming from concerned parents.
Winters said she could attest to those stats. As she was getting ready to start the presentation, her dedicated line that she affectionately calls “the bat phone” rang.
“More than likely it’s somebody’s parent calling me.”
Programs like GamFin have helped individuals who are experiencing problems with gambling, better understand their relationship with money, and helped reduce anxiety.
But Winters acknowledged it is challenge to reach today’s youth, who spend hours each day in front of a screen.
“Adolescents and 20% of adults who played free games moved to commercial games.” she warned. “So, we need to consider the digital world and digital media literacy as a way to educate youth on what they’re engaging with. We also want to focus on emotional regulation, so they don’t look for activities like online distractions to cope with difficult emotions.”
Another study found 34% of video gamers have engaged in online gambling.
She suggested the state needs to start educating young people and debunking myths at an earlier age.
Winters cited a recent survey of understudied populations by East Carolina University’s Gambling Research and Policy Institute (GRPI) that found 46% of college students believed they would eventually win big. Forty percent said they believed they could win back their losses; nearly one-third (32%) believed that gambling would solve their financial problems.
“That’s alarming,” Winters told lottery commission members.
NC Lottery Sales for Fiscal Year 2025. (Source: NC Education Lottery)
GRPI has created a Betting Blueprint to help educate college students on what is healthy gambling, financial wellness, and how to evaluate risk. The program also helps students understand how social media influencers and loyalty programs are merely marketing tools used to draw them in.
“Sounds like there are a lot of moving parts with emerging trends,” said Ripley Rand, chairman of the state lottery commission. “The information is very helpful.”
The North Carolina Education Lottery contributes $1 million to the state’s problem gambling helpline annually. When sports betting was authorized, the legislature earmarked an additional $2 million for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Problem Gambling Program.
Greg Bowers, chief financial officer for North Carolina’s lottery, said total lottery sales for fiscal 2025 totaled nearly $6.6 billion.
“That represents the highest sales total since our inception. And was $1.2 billion more than sales generated the year before in fiscal ’24,” Bowers told the group. “All of the surplus can be attributed to digital instants sales.”
While traditional lottery sales were down by 6% from the prior year, games played online generated $2.6 billion for the fiscal year, the first full year for this category.
And in August, North Carolinians spent $463 million on paid sports wagering, outpacing August 2024 numbers by about 30 percent.
The American Gaming Association has designated September as Responsible Gaming Education Month.