Mobile Sports Betting Is Booming — So Is the Debt That Comes With It

These and other popular mobile sports betting apps are now legal in many states and have become a fixture of the modern game.

“It doesn't matter who you are or what slice of sports you want to watch, it's everywhere,” Lisa Eaton says. She’s an accredited financial counselor (and a big sports fan) based in Seattle. “It’s out there as an extension of sports as entertainment.”

She’s noticed sports betting gains and losses when doing tax prep for clients.

I’ve seen it firsthand with my friends. We’ll occasionally go out to a bar to catch a game, and while I watch the action, they sit glued to their phones placing prop bets and parlays.

Placing bets is so easy now

“There used to be friction,” says Michael McAuliffe, president and founder of Family Credit Management, a nonprofit credit counseling organization in Chicago.

You used to have to go to an actual casino to place bets. Years ago, he’d go to Las Vegas maybe once a year with his buddies.

“We’d bet on all these different games, and sit at the sportsbook and lose two, three hundred,” he says.

The losses were there, but people had to go out of their way.

Now, you have an app (or apps) on your phone with an open line to your bank account. You can sit on your couch and make multiple bets within a single game, McAuliffe says.

Racking up debt is even easier

"There's a fine line between when is it just having fun and when is it actually taking over your budget," says Ashley F. Morgan, a bankruptcy and debt attorney in Northern Virginia.

Just how much are people spending?

A 2025 NerdWallet survey on sports betting found Americans who had bet on sports in the previous 12 months spent $3,284, on average, on gambling during this time. Around 1 in 7 sports bettors (14%) said they’d gone into debt to gamble.

Both DraftKings and FanDuel have banned using credit cards to place bets. But that alone doesn’t eliminate excessive spending and debt, McAuliffe says.

Some people drain their checking and savings accounts to fund wagers, he says. Then they put necessities, like food and gas, on credit cards that carry a balance.

“They're paying interest, often 25% or 30%, to buy their groceries because they just didn't have any money left,” he says.

Using a credit card to buy groceries isn’t a bad idea if you do it responsibly, but leaving a balance can cost you in interest and makes it easier for debt to pile up.

Eaton, the financial counselor from Seattle, says this is a problem, because emergencies hit harder when you’ve already tapped out your emergency fund. Maybe an unexpected and costly car repair comes up. That expense becomes even more expensive with credit card interest, she says.

If you need to change the game, you can

Maybe your debt is manageable, and you already have a plan to pay it off.

But if you've been trying to pay off your debt for six months or longer and you haven't seen any substantial change, then it’s time to try something else, says Morgan, the bankruptcy attorney.

McAuliffe’s credit counseling organization helps people struggling with money. He says a lot of times people just don’t realize how much they’re spending.

When he’s helping someone with addictive spending, he says he has them look at all of their statements over the past three to six months. This includes spending data in gambling apps.

It’s a sobering exercise to see how you're spending money over and over on the same thing and not getting anything in return, he says.

From there, you can determine what it might take to get back on track. You may need to review your budget (or create one) and identify areas to cut.

Digging out of debt might require more drastic measures, like consolidating credit card debt or seeking a personal loan to catch up on bills.

Other options include contacting a nonprofit credit counseling organization like the one McAuliffe heads up.

“People come to us when they can no longer pay their bills,” he says.

Credit counselors can help you create a custom budget or set you up with a debt management plan that consolidates multiple debts into a single payment, ideally at a reduced rate. It’s a sound option if you can commit to paying it off and live without credit cards for the duration of the plan.

Your choices become more limited when significant debt affects your entire financial life, Morgan says. This is when your car, home and wages are in jeopardy.

“When that spillover starts happening, bankruptcy really becomes sort of your only option," Morgan says.

Set boundaries and maintain them

If you’re not struggling to pay your bills, but you do want to slow your betting scroll, we have a few tips.

• Budget for it: For many, sports betting can be a legit form of entertainment when there’s a healthy limit. Just like going out to dinner or the movies, you can plan to spend some bucks to have a good time.
  
  That planned spending should fit squarely in the “wants” category of your budget. That’s after you’ve taken care of your needs and set money aside for savings and debt repayment.
  
  “When it’s gone, it’s done,” Eaton says. “That’s having a contained relationship with it.” 

• Set time limits: Maybe you skip the Thursday game and plan to just put a wager on the Sunday night NFL game. Watch your losses (or winnings) on your phone while the game is on, then be done. 

• Get your head in the game: When time is up and your betting budget runs out, put your phone down and pick your head up. If you’re at the bar with your friends, take a sip of your drink, have a chat and just watch the show. 

Seek help if you need it

Just like there are shopping addictions, sports betting can drift into dangerous territory. If you have a gambling problem, the National Problem Gambling Helpline can connect you with local resources to get help.

The article Mobile Sports Betting Is Booming — So Is the Debt That Comes With It originally appeared on NerdWallet.