Ole Miss Out On Announces College Gambling Center As Concerns Rise Over

The University of Mississippi on Monday announced the upcoming launch of its new Center on Collegiate Gambling, which researchers refer to as the "first of its kind in the nation" amidst rising nationwide concern about banking on college sports.


The center was authorized by the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees in February and will cost about $700,000 a year. It was conceived to study the "increased risks" for college students and student professional athletes triggered by the rapid development of legalized sports wagering and online gambling, its founders stated. Researchers said the center will now begin hiring staff.


IHL ´ s approval of the center follows the release of study results by University of Mississippi researchers showing that 39% of Mississippi college students gambled in a range of formats in the previous year. Of those who took part in sports betting, 6% of Mississippi college students satisfied criteria for problem gaming as defined by the American Psychiatric Association.


"We really think that this is a problem that affects Mississippi at big," Hannah Allen-King, executive director of the university ´ s William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing and assistant teacher of public health, stated in a press release. "And so, we ´ re attempting to work with our legislators as they dispute policy change around betting in the state."


Commercial sports betting was successfully prohibited with a couple of exceptions up until 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 1992 restriction. Mississippi permits sports wagering now, however only inside gambling establishments.


After the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court choice, sports betting companies introduced a full-court press lobbying campaign to bring sports betting to 10s of millions of cellphones around the country, an effort reported to be the fastest expansion of legalized gambling in American history. The companies have put money into lobbying state lawmakers, including those in Mississippi.


But Mississippi has stayed one of the couple of holdout states, mostly due to fears that legalization could damage the bottom line of the state ´ s gambling establishments and increase the frequency of betting dependency. That hasn ´ t stopped a flourishing black market from taking hold in the state.


In 2024, illegal online betting in Mississippi made up about 5% of the national illegal market, which has to do with $3 billion in unlawful bets in Mississippi, advocates said that year. Supporters of legalization state people will position online sports wagers regardless of whether the practice is legal, so the state needs to manage and tax it.


The state House has voted, for the third year in a row, to legalize mobile sports betting throughout the 2026 legal session. But Senate leaders have said they prepare to let the procedure die again.


Nevertheless, college schools have actually become centers of activity for sports wagering and, increasingly, betting dependency. This has actually triggered require research into mobile sports wagering ´ s growth and effect on young grownups. The brand-new center will aim to produce such research study, which its founders state is doing not have without a national research study center in the U.S. devoted exclusively to the research study of college gaming.


The scholastic research will focus on college student betting behaviors varying from card games to proposition betting and prediction markets. The center will likewise promote "evidence-based policies and programs to prevent harm," including training counselors to help students battling with betting.


Eight University of Mississippi counselors have actually currently received the certification to much better equip them to determine gambling addiction in students, the scientists said.


The rise of collegiate betting has likewise caused increased threats directed at professional athletes, whose efficiency is now closely tracked by gamblers.


"In a state like Mississippi where we wear ´ t have a great deal of professional sports groups, college sports are such a huge part of our culture, and a large part of our state population follows and appreciates college sports," Allen-King said. "We ´ ve seen that it can affect the psychological health of student-athletes who are getting threatened and harassed because individuals are losing cash since of their performance during video games.


Daniel Durkin, an associate professor of social work who is also one of the center ´ s establishing members, said raising awareness of sports betting ´ s prevalence on college schools will be a main goal.


"Part of the issue right now is everybody ´ s simply enjoying," Durkin said. "Look at the advertisements; betting ´ s fun. Everybody ´ s doing it. The severity of the problems has not truly come to the forefront yet, but it ´ s only a matter of time."


This story was initially published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a collaboration with The Associated Press.