Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR’s daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
It’s Friday! You may want to leave early if you’re one of the few Boston workers headed into the office today. Shuttle buses are replacing the Orange Line between Forest Hills and Back Bay all day today and tomorrow due to work on that old signal system. (You can also ride the commuter rail for free between Forest Hills and South Station.)
Bad beats: As online sports betting continues to grow in Massachusetts, so is the number of young adults struggling with gambling problems. As WBUR’s Patrick Madden reports in a new story out this morning, addiction specialists and treatment programs across the state say they’ve seen a rise in young adults — ranging from 20s to early 30s — seeking help for serious gambling problems tied to sports betting apps. The people in recovery who talked to Patrick described being “trapped” in their phone, damaging their relationship with family members and, in one case, even literally gambling away their life savings. As one recovery group leader put it: “Take one of the most addictive behaviors in mankind and then combine it with one of the most addicting devices of all time. It’s obviously going to be a disaster.” You can read Patrick’s full investigation on our website. Here are three key takeaways:
- State data show a clear pattern: In the first full fiscal year after Massachusetts legalized sports betting in 2023, data from the state’s addiction hotline (you know, the phone number you see listed on sports betting apps and commercials) showed the number of Bay Staters in their 20s and 30s referred for treatment for gambling problems more than doubled. That data includes all types of gambling, but addiction treatment clinicians said online sports betting was the cause of most cases involving young adults.
- Some question the effectiveness of the apps’ safety tools: Sports betting apps, like Boston-based DraftKings, stress that most users bet “responsibly.” And they offer tools intended to protect people from developing problems, like deposit limits, “cooling-off” periods and self-exclusion programs. However, research from New Jersey suggests very few young bettors use those safety features.
- Sports betting has trickled down to teens: Some researchers compared the state of the sports gambling industry to cigarettes in the 1940s, due to the wave of advertising featuring popular celebrities. But that’s not the only similarity to cigarettes in the mid-20th century. There’s also evidence of sports betting becoming more popular among those not old enough to legally wager. A researcher in Springfield found that almost 30% of eighth graders in 2024 said they’d participated in some form of sports gambling in the past year. While that included fantasy sports and bets with no money, it was a notable increase since before Massachusetts legalized sports betting. “What we know from all of our years of research is: the earlier you’re introduced to gambling, the more frequently you gamble, the more activities you gamble on, the higher your risk,” Lia Nower, a gambling researcher at Rutgers University, told Patrick.
Heating up: New England is among the fastest warming areas on the planet, according to a new report out of Salem State University. Researchers found the region warmed 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century. And since the year 2000, the region has lost more than 30% of its measurable snow days. Salem State geography professor and study co-author Stephen Young told WBUR’s John Bender that New England’s proximity to warming oceans is a big part of the reason for the changes.
- The lack of snow cover has also become something of warming feedback loop, said Young. “As the snow declines, we get warmer and warmer, and as we get warmer, more snow declines and we seem to be in that pattern,” he said.
New gig: Dr. Ashish Jha, one of the country’s most recognizable figures in public health, is leaving his post at Brown University. Jha announced yesterday that he will step down as dean of Brown’s School of Public Health at the end of the month to lead an initiative focused on bolstering the country’s defenses against emerging pandemics and biological threats. According to Brown, it will build on his work as White House COVID-19 response coordinator during the Biden administration.
P.S. — How much does Mayor Michelle Wu say Boston homeowners will see their property taxes increase next year? Take our Boston News Quiz and test your knowledge of the stories we covered this week.