Researchers launch nation's first center dedicated to studying college gambling and betting on college sports
With hundreds of millions of dollars being wagered each day on events from the NCAA Tournament to the Academy Awards, the University of Mississippi hopes to lead efforts to address betting on collegiate sports with its new Center on Collegiate Gambling.
The first of its kind in the nation, the UM Center on Collegiate Gambling was recently approved by the Institutions of Higher Learning trustees.
The center will advance understanding of college student gambling behaviors ranging from card games to proposition betting and prediction markets through academic research, said Hannah Allen-King, executive director of the university's William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing and assistant professor of public health.
It also will promote evidence-based policies and programs to prevent harm, support student well-being and protect the integrity of collegiate athletics, she said. The work will also include training counselors to help students who are engaging in problem gambling behavior or experiencing gambling-related consequences.
"Around two years ago, we invited an expert on gambling to come speak to us and after his presentation, I became very alarmed," said Daniel Durkin, associate professor of social work. "We were seeing a developing gambling problem, and not a whole lot of people were actually doing anything about it."
What began as an informal group turned into a task force consisting of Ole Miss faculty and staff that included Durkin, Allen-King, law professor Ron Rychlak, education professor George McClellan and Nick McAfee, director of the William Magee Center.
"When we started, we also started going to national gambling conferences and that's where we realized that more direct efforts were needed in the collegiate gambling space," Durkin said. "There was a need for a center focused specifically on collegiate gambling."
The group conducted research last spring examining the need for such a center in an academic setting.
From that investigation, they learned that 39% of Mississippi college students gambled in a variety of formats in the past year, compared to an estimated 58% of North Carolina students. Of those who engaged in sports betting, 6% of Mississippi college students met criteria for problem gambling as defined by the American Psychiatric Association.
"We really think that this is an issue that affects Mississippi at large," Allen-King said. "And so, we're trying to work with our legislators as they debate policy change around gambling in the state.
"From the research findings, we were able to say, 'Here's what we need to see on our campus in terms of prevention, education, policy, intervention and treatment for students that need it,'" she said. "So, in the fall of 2026, we will have more of a dedicated campus plan to address gambling."
That plan includes training counselors in the University Counseling Center.
"There's a collegiate counselor gambling certificate that was developed by a team out of East Carolina University that college counselors can get to be able to better recognize, screen and then work with students on campuses that are dealing with a potential gambling issue," Allen-King said.
"That means that if a student shows up to the counseling center and is talking about this issue, that the counselors would be able to provide brief intervention and connection to broader resources if needed."
Eight Ole Miss counselors have already received the certification.
Additionally, the university is partnering with Emory University to begin screening for gambling in the campus health and counseling centers.
"Gambling behavior is rarely part of conversations with health providers, and so students don't really talk about it or know that they can talk about it," Allen-King said. "We, along with Emory, are working on an initiative to explore the validity of screening for gambling problems in campus health settings."
Often, people do not seek treatment for gambling at a health or counseling center because they think it is a financial problem.
"So, part of our efforts is going to be around educating folks to use campus health services to recognize that they may have an issue," Durkin said.
Collegiate gambling is not just a problem for college students who gamble but also includes student-athletes and adults who gamble on collegiate sports and activities.
"In a state like Mississippi where we don't have a lot of professional sports teams, college sports are such a big part of our culture, and a large part of our state population follows and cares about college sports," Allen-King said. "We've seen that it can impact the mental health of student-athletes who are getting threatened and harassed because people are losing money because of their performance during games.
"We wanted to keep the name of the center broad because while the college student population is unique and we need to support students and athletes, there's also a lot of work that can be done in pre-college and post-college populations.
"After all, you don't want to graduate someone with a gambling problem into the workforce or into the general population. We want to address this issue and provide support while they are in our care on campus."
Additional goals of the center include hosting an annual "Collegiate Gambling Awareness Week" and an annual conference on collegiate gambling to share research and resources.
"Part of the issue right now is everybody's just having a good time," Durkin said. "Look at the ads; gambling's fun. Everybody's doing it.
"The seriousness of the issues have not really come to the forefront yet, but it's only a matter of time."
