Is sports betting more risky than lotto?

The BZgA classifies sports betting as particularly dangerous

If you perform the self-test of the BGZA and indicate that you occasionally participate in sports betting, you will always receive a warning even if your gambling behavior is considered responsible. Whether betting on sports events can easily lead to addiction, however, is less clear than assumed by the Federal Center for Health Education.

Arguments for the addictive risk of sports betting

Sports bets are available every day and allow betting on all weekdays. The gamblers also believe that they themselves can influence their success by expert knowledge and by the neat selection of the sports events. Furthermore, extremely high bets are possible in sports betting. Compared to the lottery the more frequent small winnings also increase the addiction potential of sports betting.

Counter-arguments on the risk of sports betting

High bets are possible, but not mandatory. Participants in sports betting can at any time decide to lower the bets. In addition, high bets are less critical than large losses. If you gamble exclusively or predominantly at low risk at sports betting, you will win a higher percentage of your bets than in the lottery. Expertise makes it easier to make the right predictions. For this reason, you can influence your gambling success. In addition, jackpots in millions of dollars are not so common in sports betting.

The evaluation of the arguments

At least one fact, namely the more frequent gaining of smaller amounts, can be used alternatively as an argument for or against the greater addiction risk of sports betting compared to lotto. A clear statement about the real gambling risk is not possible. The number of gambling addicts among bettors has been low so far.