Arnold Ventures Awards $2.6m To Study Sports Gambling Harm
On Tuesday, Arnold Ventures announced 12 new research grants totaling $2.6 million to study sports gambling in the United States and its harmful impacts. Most of the funding will support academic, peer-reviewed research.
The Houston-based group, the philanthropic vehicle of billionaires John D. Arnold and Laura Arnold, said the research will be independent of gambling industry influence and will help inform state and federal policymakers seeking to better regulate sports gambling.
Americans spent more than $16 billion on state-sanctioned online sports gambling in 2025, a record high ($27 billion if you include online slots, blackjack, etc.). Despite high engagement levels, legal betting is unpopular as public policy, according to polling.
Americans also lose billions more each year to offshore betting sites, prediction markets, and sweepstakes-style sports betting platforms. As a result, online gambling has never been more pervasive in the U.S.
Why it Matters
Much is already known about the detrimental impact of online gambling platforms, so policymakers don’t need to wait for new research to act now. For example, Ohio has a bill to significantly curb sports betting. The SAFE Bet Act was first introduced in Congress in 2024.
Even so, more American research could be helpful, as much of the existing work comes from abroad in older, more mature online gambling markets. More independent research can also help undermine the stigmatizing “responsible gaming” framework deployed by the industry.
“Just a few years ago, most Americans had to travel significant distances to legally gamble on sports. Today, access to gambling has become so widespread that, in most of the country, anyone with a smartphone could effectively have a casino in their pocket,” said Justin Milner, Arnold Ventures’ Executive Vice President of Evidence & Evaluation.
Traditional, house-banked sports betting is legal in 39 states and Washington, D.C. Eight of those states do not permit online platforms.
State-sanctioned sports betting, which critics say can turbocharge population-level gambling harm, still has significant room to expand more than eight years after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down a decades-old federal ban.
Arnold Venture Sports Betting Grants 2026
Let’s take a look at the research grants below. Arnold Ventures didn’t provide a funding breakdown for each grant.
Note: “Scope” descriptions via Arnold Ventures.
Behavioral Insights (US) Inc.
Principal Investigator(s): Michael Hallsworth; Kirstie Paul
Timeline: 2026 – 2027
Scope: This project examines how people perceive the likelihood of winning parlay bets and how they react to “near misses”, where a parlay bet fails by just one leg. It also tests whether targeted messages following near misses can interrupt play and influence real-time betting behavior among approximately 12,000 participants.
University of Wisconsin System
Principal Investigator(s): Scott Baker (University of Wisconsin System); Justin Balthrop (University of Nebraska – Lincoln); Kevin Pisciotta (University of Kansas); Mark Johnson (BYU Marriott School of Business); Jeff Dotson (Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business)
Timeline: 2026 – 2028
Scope: This project examines how financial shocks and betting outcomes, including wins, losses, and promotional incentives, shape betting behavior over time. It analyzes within-person changes to understand how individuals respond dynamically to gambling experiences.
West Virginia University Foundation, Inc.
Principal Investigator(s): Brad Humphreys
Timeline: 2026 – 2029
Scope: This study investigates “loss-chasing” behavior in online sports betting markets following near misses and unexpected outcomes. It evaluates how these events influence gambling expenditures and risk-taking behavior.
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Principal Investigator(s): Brett Hollenbeck; Poet Larsen; Uttara Ananthakrishnan; Ken Wilbur
Timeline: 2026 – 2028
Scope: This study evaluates how exposure to sports betting advertising affects consumer behavior, including app downloads and engagement. Using quasi-experimental methods, the research estimates causal impacts of advertising intensity on betting participation.
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Principal Investigator(s): Jacob Goss (University of Wisconsin — Madison); Daniel Mangrum (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)
Timeline: 2026 – 2027
Scope: This quasi-experimental study examines how legalized sports betting affects credit card delinquency rates across states. It also analyzes spillover effects in neighboring states where sports betting remains illegal, providing insight into cross-border financial impacts.
University of New Hampshire (University System of New Hampshire)
Principal Investigator(s): Gorkem Turgut (G.T.) Ozer; Zhe Zhang (UC San Diego)
Timeline: 2026 – 2028
Scope: This study analyzes how gaining or losing access to legal sports betting through interstate migration affects individuals’ financial outcomes. It focuses on changes in credit health and financial distress as people move between states with different legal regimes.
Princeton University
Principal Investigator(s): Carl Gershenson (Princeton University); Seth Gershenson (American University School of Public Affairs); Erdal Tekin (American University School of Public Affairs)
Timeline: 2026 – 2028
Scope: This research examines the impact of legalized sports betting on housing and financial insecurity among renters. It evaluates outcomes such as eviction filings and foreclosure rates using quasi-experimental methods.
University of Texas at Austin
Principal Investigator(s): Mary Evans; Katherine Rittenhouse
Timeline: 2026 – 2027
Scope: This study analyzes how legalized sports betting influences family well-being, with a focus on marriage rates. It uses quasi-experimental methods to estimate how changes in gambling access affect household formation decisions.
University of Pennsylvania
Principal Investigator(s): David Powell
Timeline: 2026 – 2028
Scope: This project examines whether the legalization of sports betting is associated with changes in suicide rates across states. It uses a staggered difference-in-differences design to isolate causal effects over time.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Principal Investigator(s): Sarah Schutz (Vanderbilt University Medical Center); Lawrence Baker (RAND Corporation)
Timeline: 2026 – 2027
Scope: This research examines whether access to legalized online sports betting is associated with changes in mental health diagnoses, prescription rates, and care utilization.
Indiana University
Principal Investigator(s): Alberto Ortega; Coady Wing
Timeline: 2026 – 2029
Scope: This project evaluates how legalized sports betting affects behavioral health care spending and broader indicators of social well-being. It assesses whether expanded access to betting is associated with changes in treatment utilization and health-related expenditures.
Urban Institute
Principal Investigator(s): Kassandra Martinchek; Lucy Dadayan
Timeline: 2026 – 2029
Scope: This study evaluates how legalized sports betting affects state tax revenues. It examines fiscal outcomes across jurisdictions to assess whether projected revenue gains materialize over time.
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