Losing More Than Money: What Online Gambling Is Really Doing to Young Men
In the last year, I have been hearing a version of the same story more often than I used to. A young man comes in, usually in his mid-to-late twenties, and somewhere in the first session he mentions it almost in passing. He started betting on sports a couple of years ago, just for fun. He is still going to work. He is still showing up. But he is anxious in a way he cannot explain, his relationship is strained, and there is money he cannot account for. He does not think of himself as someone with a gambling problem because that is not who he thought he was.
That gap between what is actually happening and how someone sees themselves is exactly where this issue hides.
The heavy hidden mental health cost of online gambling for young men in Canada.
What Changed
Online gambling in Canada looks nothing like it did five years ago. Since the federal government legalized single-event sports betting in 2021 and Ontario opened its private iGaming market in 2022, the industry has exploded. Betting apps are advertised during every major sports broadcast. You can place a wager at midnight from your couch in thirty seconds. The friction that used to exist between a person and a bet is essentially gone.
Alberta is not far behind. Bill 48, the Alberta iGaming Act, passed its third reading in May 2025, and a regulated provincial market is expected to roll out in 2026. What happened in Ontario is coming here.
The Numbers Are Hard to Ignore
A 2024 national study drawing on data from more than 8,000 Canadians found that nearly one in three adults aged 18 to 29 now gambles online. Among that group, almost one in four reported high levels of gambling-related harm, including financial loss, credit card debt, and a persistent sense of failure and regret.
In Ontario, the rate of young men contacting the province's mental health helpline for gambling-related problems increased by more than 300% after private online gambling launched, according to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in March 2026. The increases in helpline calls were almost exclusively among men and teen boys between the ages of 15 and 44.
These are not fringe cases. This is a mainstream crisis that is moving fast.
Why Young Men Specifically
The gambling industry knows exactly who it is targeting. Sports betting apps are designed around the same psychological architecture as social media — variable rewards, near-miss experiences, the feeling that the next bet is the one that turns it around. Young men who already follow sports, who are competitive by nature, and who are in a life stage where financial pressure and identity questions intersect are particularly vulnerable to that design.
There is also a social piece. Betting with friends or following picks in group chats has become normalized in a way that drinking in a pub used to be. The difference is that the app is available at 2am, there is no one around to notice how much you have had, and the losses are invisible to everyone but you.
It’s Not Just About the Money
The financial consequences of problem gambling are real and they compound quickly. But in my experience, the money is rarely what brings someone in. What brings them in is everything the gambling is doing to the rest of their life.
The mental health consequences I see most often include:
Shame and secrecy, which becomes its own exhausting full-time job
Anxiety that has no obvious source, because the person has not connected their mood to what is happening with their gambling
Withdrawal from relationships, either because they are hiding something or because the irritability has made them hard to be around
Depression and low self-worth, especially after losses, which often leads to chasing those losses to feel better
In serious cases, suicidal ideation, which research has confirmed is elevated among people experiencing problem gambling
The secrecy is often the most damaging part. When you are managing a hidden financial situation and performing normalcy at the same time, the mental load is enormous.
Signs It Has Become a Problem
Some things worth paying attention to, either in yourself or someone you care about:
Gambling to recover money already lost, or to improve a bad mood
Lying to family or partners about how much time or money is being spent
Feeling restless or irritable when not gambling
Continuing even after a significant financial loss
Borrowing money or hiding credit card activity
Work or relationship problems that have no other clear explanation
One thing I want to name clearly: you do not have to have lost everything to have a problem. Many of the men I work with are still functional on paper. That does not mean what is happening is not serious.
What Actually Helps
If this is something you are dealing with, the most important first step is getting honest about the scope of it. Not with everyone, but with someone. A counsellor, a doctor, or a helpline — somewhere the information does not have to stay inside your head alone.
Counselling can help with the mental health piece, including the anxiety, the shame, the relationship repair, and the underlying patterns that made gambling appealing in the first place. For more serious cases, counselling works best alongside the addiction support resources listed below, which are designed specifically for gambling.
Self-exclusion is also worth knowing about. You can voluntarily exclude yourself from gambling platforms, which removes one layer of access while you are building other supports. It is not a complete solution but it is a concrete action you can take today.
Moving Forward
If you are a young man reading this and something here sounds familiar, I want you to know that what you are experiencing is not a character flaw. The systems that built these apps are sophisticated and they are specifically designed to be hard to stop. Getting help is not weakness. It is the only move that actually works.
At Breathe Counselling, I offer individual sessions for men navigating anxiety, addiction, and the pressure of keeping it all together. You do not have to have it figured out before you call. Book a free consultation here.
Resources in Alberta
Alberta Addiction Helpline — Available 24/7 Call 1-866-332-2322
Alberta Gamblers Anonymous albertaga.ca
Resources in Ontario
ConnexOntario — Free, confidential, available 24/7. Call, text, chat, or email. Call 1-866-531-2600 or text CONNEX to 247247
CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) — Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital, offers specialized gambling treatment programs. camh.ca
Resources in British Columbia
Gambling Support BC — Government-funded, free support for any BC resident. Counselling, referrals, 24/7 helpline. Call 1-888-795-6111
National Resources
Responsible Gambling Council — Canada-wide resource directory with province-by-province support finder. responsiblegambling.org
Gamblers Anonymous — Peer support available across Canada, in person and virtual. gamblersanonymous.org
— Written by Aman Dhaliwal, Registered Social Worker & Owner, BA, MSW, RSW.
Breathe Counselling is a south Edmonton and Calgary-based mental health clinic in Alberta, designed to listen, help, and coach those needing counselling and therapy. We specialize in individual counselling, men's mental health, cultural therapy, anxiety and depression, work stress management, and life transitions. Hindi and Punjabi counselling services are available through in-person, virtual, or phone call sessions by visiting breathecounselling.ca.