Maryland campus tries to get ahead of sports betting’s lure

By JULIAN ESAU BASENA and DEREK OHRINGER / Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism

TOWSON, Md. (AP) — One Maryland university is trying to get ahead of the boom in college sports betting by teaching students about the risks of gambling and how to do it responsibly. Towson University is implementing a program, “Tigers Play Responsibly,” that seeks to educate students through robust anti-problem gambling workshops and marketing campaigns. Towson University educators work tables at sporting events, conduct giveaways, maintain a messaging campaign on social media and geo-target mobile advertising to students at sporting events or near sports venues with messages designed to prevent problems gambling. But Congress hasn’t made prevention programs a priority even as research shows college students are particularly vulnerable to the lure of sports betting.