Sean Martin started sports gambling after sports became legal in Ohio. He never had a problem with gambling until he had access to it on his cell phone.
CANAL WINCHESTER, Ohio — It's been a few months since Sean Martin made that bet. He started gambling on sports after Ohio legalized sports gambling on January 1, 2023.
“I started playing around with it, but I wasn’t really into it, but then [it] “Some kind of progress has started,” he said. “I used to bet once a week and now I bet twice a week. I'm not a scratch-off person. I'm not a lottery fanatic, but I like to play parlays and some Betting on games is like a cool way to play the lottery, turning $10 into hundreds and $50 into $1,000.
Martin stayed up all night betting on sports that were played in different time zones. He watched baseball in Japan, basketball and gambled in China.
“I was having fun doing it, and then I started seeing my money dwindle and I was chasing losses and telling myself I had to make this loss back,” Martin said. “I'm a liar, I'm lying to my fiance…I'm trying to cover my tracks…and I end up climbing over a seemingly insurmountable wall of debt.”
Martin's debt was in the five-figure range. He has now sorted out his debts and is on the right path, but he was able to overcome similar struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. He has now been sober for five and a half years, and he credits his fiancée and his faith in a higher power for his recovery.
“I'm so blessed and so lucky to be around people who understand sobriety and what it takes to stay sober,” he said. “If I think I have 100% control over everything, I become selfish and self-centered. I started not paying attention to the wants and needs of the people closest to me in my life. When I started to have confidence in things… [it’s] I'm going to work out. I still have issues, but I am able to work through them as an honest, loving, and responsible adult. ”
Martin is not alone. Maryhaven says calls to the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline have increased 55% in the last year since sports betting was legalized.
The National Council on Problem Gambling ranks Ohio No. 7 in calls and emails to problem gambling hotlines. Between December 1, 2023, and May 2, 2024, there were 148,910 calls and 2,526 text messages to the National Problem Gambling Hotline.
If you or a loved one is struggling with a gambling addiction, call the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-589-9966.
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