LANSING — Online gambling and sports betting celebrated a big launch in late January.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board announced operators had collected $42.7 million in gross receipts in the first 10 days Michiganders were allowed to place bets from home.
The next month, calls to the Michigan Problem Gambling Helpline spiked. There were 563 gambling addiction calls placed to the helpline in February, more than five times the number of calls placed in February 2020.
That's huge growth, said Michelle Malkin,
a Ph.D. candidate studying problem gambling at Michigan State University's school of justice.
And online gambling is the likely culprit.
"Casinos are at limited capacity right now because of the pandemic," she said. "The only thing that could really