BUFFALO, N.Y. — It's a Thursday night football night. Fans are getting ready to place bets, or maybe they already have. They're not alone in that. New Yorkers are losing $4 million per day on mobile sports betting apps alone.

So how do you know when there might be an issue?

Shanley Olszowy, the program manager for Western Problem Gambling Resource Center, helps answer that question and others.

The numbers here are staggering. Olszowy says New Yorkers wagered more than $16 billion and lost more than $1.4 billion on mobile sports betting apps in the first 12 months they were legally allowed to accept bets.

The New York State Gaming Commission also noted a 26% increase in problem gambling-related calls to the Office of Addiction Services and Supports from 2021 to 2022.

Here are the red flags of a gambling problem:

  • Become increasingly obsessed with the idea of gambling
  • Become hooked on the high of gambling
  • Gamble more and more money, more and more often over time
  • Use gambling as a way to escape life’s problems
  • Lose interest in normal activities
  • Try, but fail, to stop or control gambling
  • Act restless and irritable when not gambling
  • Have an attitude that no win is ever big enough
  • Lie about losses and exaggerate wins
  • “Chase” their losses
  • Bet until their last dollar is gone
  • Get in a continually worse financial and emotional situation over time
  • Need to be "bailed out” financially
  • Beg, borrow, or steal money to gamble or pay off gambling-related debts

Here's a list of resources available: