New York Harm Report Shows HOPEline Calls Fell 17% as Bettors Wagered $25.4bn

New York's annual report on the impact of mobile sports wagering on problem gamblers shows calls to the state's gambling helpline fell by about a sixth in 2025, even as handle and self-exclusions rose. The report presents the figure as growth since 2020, and still says little about who is being harmed.

• The New York State Gaming Commission and the Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) report 2,545 HOPEline calls in 2025, against 3,064 in their report for 2024, a fall of 16.9%
• New Yorkers wagered $25.38 billion on mobile sports wagering platforms in 2025, up 12.4%, with licensee gross gaming revenue up 8.0% to $2.22 billion
• New self-exclusion enrolments rose to 1,887 from 1,754, and reported underage incidents rose to 1,972 from 1,871
• The report gives the age profile of account holders but no treatment admissions and no measure of which groups are disproportionately harmed, as the statute asks
• The data gap sits alongside the commission's proposed rule requiring sportsbooks to flag at-risk bettors

New York's Statutory Harm Report Finds Fewer Helpline Calls and More Self-Exclusions

The report goes to Governor Kathy Hochul and the Legislature under section 1367-a(6) of the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law, which requires the commission, with OASAS, to report annually on the impact of mobile sports wagering on problem gamblers, including, "to the extent practicable", the demographics disproportionately affected. It is signed by Robert Williams, the commission's executive director, and Dr Chinazo Cunningham, the OASAS commissioner. The version on the commission's website is dated 31 March 2026, updated 2 September 2026, with its self-exclusion section marked "REVISED 10/26". It is the second report to carry data from the nine mobile licensees.

According to the report, HOPEline calls rose 8.5% from 2,345 in 2020 to 2,545 in 2025, which it attributes to public service announcements and licensee advertising. The 2024 report put the 2024 total at 3,064, so on the agencies' own numbers calls fell by 519 year on year. Online betting has been the top reason for calls since January 2022, both reports say. The 2024 report named men aged 25 to 44 as the most frequent callers; the 2025 report gives no caller profile.

Self-exclusion moved the other way. New enrolments in the statewide programme, which bars participants from all legal gambling, rose to 1,887 in 2025 from 1,754 in 2024, taking the total since 2017 to 11,016.

Handle, Accounts and Underage Play

Wagering reached $25.38 billion across more than 2.02 billion transactions, the report says. It counts 7.2 million accounts, up 49.8%, though accounts opened in the year fell 28.3% to 1.54 million, and the 2025 count draws on geolocation data from GeoComply and OpenBet. The average amount wagered per account fell 18.6% to $3,500. Of 5.34 million account holders who gave voluntary demographic data, 40% were aged 25 to 34. Eight licensees offered loss limits, against five in 2024.

Only three licensees reported underage activity, which the report attributes to inconsistent reporting; it will seek standardised reporting for 2026 data. One recorded 785 account attempts by minors, barred from sports wagering before any deposit but left open for fantasy sports, which has a lower minimum age. Another found two accounts opened by minors in late 2024 that were funded and used until mid-March 2025, a case the commission says is in administrative adjudication.

The state directs $6 million a year of mobile sports wagering tax to gambling harm treatment and education, with a further $6 million from 2026, according to the report, which restates the 51% tax rate.

The Helpline Number Is Being Read the Wrong Way

Measured from 2020, the HOPEline series looks like rising demand; measured against the agencies' own 2024 figure, it shows a drop of almost a sixth in a year when handle grew by an eighth. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's September analysis, as reported by Spectrum News, cited the 8.5% increase from 2020. Neither reading proves much about prevalence: helpline volume tracks awareness as much as harm, and the report does not explain the fall.

The Statute Asks a Question the Report Cannot Yet Answer

The law asks which groups are disproportionately harmed. The report answers with the age profile of everyone who bets, which describes the market, not the harm. It carries no OASAS treatment admissions and no self-exclusion breakdown, although the 2023 report said the self-exclusion form now records date of birth, gender, race and the type of gaming most often played. Until the data regulation, effective from 28 February 2026, and the at-risk bettor rule yield comparable operator data, the report remains a market census with a helpline count attached.

Funding Has Doubled From a Low Base

At $12 million a year, treatment funding is modest beside $2.22 billion of licensee revenue taxed at 51%. The scrutiny is national, from Pennsylvania's new problem gambling caucus to reporting that DraftKings scored customers by expected losses. With a statutory duty to report and data rules now in force, New York is better placed than most of the United States to measure harm.

New York's report is more complete than its predecessors, but its headline helpline figure hides a fall the agencies do not explain. The 2026 data, collected under the new rules, will show whether the state can describe harm rather than handle.