As Online Sports Betting Rises, So Do Calls To Gambling Addiction Lines
NBC News covers the rising mental health impact of the boom in online sports betting. Separately, in Maryland, lawmakers passed two sweeping privacy bills, one of which is aimed at breaking youths' addiction to social media.
NBC News:
Gambling Addiction Hotlines Say Calls Are Up As Online Sports Betting Booms
In state after state, centers for problem gambling are noticing an alarming rise in calls to their helplines. The circumstances reported are also getting more severe, according to the directors of five problem gambling centers, a gambling researcher and an addiction counselor. People are filing for bankruptcy or losing homes or relationships. At the same time, callers are skewing younger, the experts said — often men in their 20s and 30s. (Mogg and Bendix, 4/5)
The New York Times:
Maryland Passes 2 Major Privacy Bills, Despite Tech Industry Pushback
The Maryland Legislature this weekend passed two sweeping privacy bills that aim to restrict how powerful tech platforms can harvest and use the personal data of consumers and young people — despite strong objections from industry trade groups representing giants like Amazon, Google and Meta. One bill, the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act, would impose wide-ranging restrictions on how companies may collect and use the personal data of consumers in the state. The other, the Maryland Kids Code, would prohibit certain social media, video game and other online platforms from tracking people under 18 and from using manipulative techniques — like auto-playing videos or bombarding children with notifications — to keep young people glued online. (Singer, 4/7)
Reuters:
New Mexico Mental Health First Responders Are Increasingly Civilians, Not Police
Unarmed emergency responders Nevada Sanchez and Sean Martin take a police dispatch call in southeast Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city with high rates of violent crime and police shootings. They have no enforcement powers or protective equipment and say they use their voices and brains to deescalate encounters with people in mental health and substance abuse crises. On some occasions they may have saved lives. (Hay, 4/6)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
AP:
Victims Of Montana Asbestos Pollution Take Warren Buffet’s Railroad To Court
Hundreds of people died and more than 3,000 have been sickened from asbestos exposure in the Libby, Montana area, according to researchers and health officials. (Brown and Hanson, 4/7)
The Boston Globe:
N.H. Senate Approves Bills Flagged As ‘Harmful’ By State Child Advocate’s Office
The New Hampshire Senate approved two controversial bills on Friday that have drawn the concern of LGBTQ+ advocates. The bills would bar transgender girls from women’s sports teams starting in 6th grade and including college (Senate Bill 375), and require teachers respond “completely and honestly” to parents’ questions about their child (Senate Bill 341). Advocates are concerned this could cause the forcible “outing” of LGBTQ+ students to their parents, while proponents say parents have a right to know and the bills will restore trust in schools. (Gokee, 4/5)
The Boston Globe:
New Manager Hopes To Save Historic Boston Nursing Home
Staff at the Edgar P. Benjamin Healthcare Center, a historic Boston nursing home in Mission Hill, were ebullient Friday, clapping and cheering as their new, court-appointed manager promised to do everything he could to keep the facility open. “I’m not coming here in order to look to dissolve this organization,” said Joseph Feaster, a Boston attorney appointed as receiver of the facility, which serves a population of mostly Black and Latino residents. “I’m looking to come here to see whether this organization can be sustained.” (Laughlin, 4/5)
