UNLV Conference on Gambling Returns to Bellagio as Problem Gambling Crisis Deepens
The 19th International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking returns to Las Vegas’s Bellagio May 26-28
Registration is open for the 19th International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking. The event runs May 26 through 28 at Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. It is hosted by the UNLV International Gaming Institute and held every three years. The conference brings together researchers, policymakers, academics, and industry leaders to examine pressing questions in global gambling.
The timing is pointed. The US gambling industry is larger, more accessible, and more technologically sophisticated than at any point in its history. So is its toll.
A Growing Public Health Problem
More than half of all American adults participated in some form of gambling in the past year, according to the American Gaming Association. Twenty-two percent of US adults placed a sports bet in the 12 months through mid-2025. Among adults aged 18 to 29, that figure rises to nearly one in three.
The industry generates extraordinary revenue. Commercial gaming alone produced $78.7 billion in 2025, a record for the sixth consecutive year. Tribal gaming added another $43.9 billion. Americans wagered $166.94 billion on sports in 2025. The expansion has been rapid and, in large part, deliberate. Since the Supreme Court struck down the federal sports betting ban in 2018, legal wagering has spread to the majority of US states through an aggressive lobbying and legislative push.
What has followed is a public health reckoning that the industry and regulators are still struggling to measure. The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that nearly 20 million US adults report problem gambling behaviors. Between 2 and 3% of adults meet clinical criteria for pathological gambling disorder. Problem gamblers are four times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population. The societal cost of problem gambling in the United States is estimated at $103 billion annually.
Only about 8% of those who meet the criteria for compulsive gambling ever seek help.
Young People and Sports Betting
The expansion of legal sports betting has introduced a new and particularly vulnerable population to high-frequency wagering. Young adults between 18 and 24 face the highest risk for developing gambling disorders of any age group. Their brains are still developing. Their relationship to risk and impulse is still forming. And sports betting apps have been designed, specifically, for their habits.
Research from Ontario showed calls to a gambling helpline from young men aged 15 to 24 rose more than 300% following the privatization of its sports betting market. Similar patterns are being tracked in US states. Harvard Medical School data shows 7% of college students already meet the criteria for problem gambling.
New product formats are accelerating the concern. In-game wagering now accounts for more than half of the handle at major sportsbooks. Micro betting resolves in seconds. Prediction markets allow event contracts on any outcome imaginable. Each development shortens the feedback loop between impulse and action, which is precisely the mechanism that drives disordered gambling. Some in the sports betting and gaming world are committed to raising awareness of problem gambling, but will it be enough?
What the Conference Will Address
The International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking was founded in 1974 at the University of Nevada, Reno, by Dr. Bill Eadington, described as an early pioneer and foundational figure in modern gambling research. For five decades it has served as the field’s primary gathering for research across economics, public policy, mathematics, social sciences, and psychology.
UNLV IGI Executive Director Dr. Brett Abarbanel described it as the intellectual heartbeat of the global gambling field. He said it convenes thinkers and decision-makers who shape the industry and push its boundaries, and that attendees will engage with experts across government, academia, technology, and gambling itself.
The 2023 conference drew several hundred attendees from more than two dozen countries. The 2026 edition arrives with more to discuss than perhaps any prior gathering in the event’s history. Problem gambling is rising. Prediction markets are blurring regulatory lines. Artificial intelligence is reshaping product design. And state legislatures across the country are debating how to balance revenue generation against public health obligations they are only beginning to understand.
Early Bird registration closes April 18 and is priced at $850. Student registration is $500. Group room rates at Bellagio are $233 per night. Full programming details are available at the conference website.
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