University of Mississippi launches first academic centre focused on student gambling behavior

The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) has established what it describes as the first academic center in the United States dedicated exclusively to studying gambling among college students, as concerns grow over betting activity on campuses and its potential consequences.

The new Centre on Collegiate Gambling, approved by the university’s board of trustees, is set to examine gambling behaviors across a wide range of formats, including traditional card games and newer prediction markets, while developing prevention and treatment approaches grounded in research. It will also assess how betting activity intersects with issues of integrity in collegiate sports.

The initiative emerges amid broader policy developments in gaming, including a bipartisan federal measure introduced to expand funding for gambling addiction research, marking the first such effort in more than a decade. At the state level, legislative momentum is also building, with a second sports betting bill recently passing through Mississippi’s House of Representatives.

Underlying the university’s move is research indicating significant levels of gambling among students. A multi-campus study conducted by Ole Miss researchers, covering seven state universities, found that 39% of surveyed students had engaged in gambling within the past year. Sports betting was identified as the most common form of participation.

Among those who reported sports betting, 6% met the American Psychiatric Association’s criteria for problem gambling, while a larger share was classified as being at moderate risk.

The study also pointed to patterns in participation, with higher prevalence among male students, white students, those living off campus, and members of Greek life organizations. More than half of student gamblers, 58%, reported using online sportsbooks.

The research further highlights how Mississippi’s regulatory environment shapes student behavior. While in-person casino operations are tightly regulated, the ongoing debate over legalizing online sports betting has created a fragmented sector. Industry observers note that students may turn to offshore operators or prediction markets, which operate outside current state restrictions on mobile betting platforms.

Daniel Durkin, an associate professor of social work at Ole Miss, said the initiative was driven by a lack of coordinated responses to a growing issue. “We were seeing a developing gambling problem, and not a whole lot of people were actually doing anything about it,” Durkin stated.

He added that engagement with broader research communities influenced the university’s direction: “When we started going to national gambling conferences, that’s where we realised that more direct efforts were needed in the collegiate gambling space.”