Online sports betting is emerging as a growing digital distraction among adolescents, particularly teenage boys, experts warn.

The multi-billion-dollar industry is expanding rapidly as betting platforms become increasingly accessible through smartphone apps. Online gambling is expected to generate US$8.7 billion by 2030, up from US$3.9 billion in 2024, according to data compiled by Grand View Research, with sports betting registering the fastest growth.

“You can just turn on your phone and then all of a sudden you can be betting hundreds of dollars,” student Alex Bergman from Montreal’s Dawson College told Global News on Thursday.

Another student at the college, who asked not to be identified, said he lost $2,000 through online betting, including sports gambling.

“It’s so accessible. And it feels like when you’re not gambling, you’re missing out on making money, and you just have this urge to keep gambling,” he said.

2:29
Study says more Ontario male teens and men seeking help for gambling problems

Dr. Jeff Derevensky of McGill University, director of the International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-risk Behaviours, says sports betting among youths is becoming an epidemic.

“I think we need to raise more awareness as a public health issue and as a mental health issue,” Derevensky told Global News in an interview. He says stronger regulations are needed.

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“Advertising, accessibility, availability will breed more individuals with gambling problems,” he said.

Rabbi Benjamin Bresinger runs Chabad Lifeline, a treatment and counselling centre for youth with at-risk behaviour and addiction. He says families are increasingly seeking help for teenagers hooked on online gambling, particularly sports betting.

“Boys between the ages of 12 and 16, that’s where it’s really taken off,” he said.

Experts say part of the appeal comes from slick advertising campaigns from a growing number of online sports betting websites and apps, some featuring high-profile celebrities and athletes.

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Sports betting ads need to be scrapped, senators urge in letter to Carney

Some of these high-profile names include Drake, Kendall Jenner, Connor McDavid, Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Hart, Jamie Foxx, Auston Matthews, LeBron James, Rob Gronkowski , Megan Thee Stallion, Peyton and Eli Manning, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tony Hawk, and Shaquille O’Neal.

The companies they have endorsed include BetMGM, Stake, Fanatics, FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars Sportsbook, PokerStars and more.

‘Micro-betting’ concerns

In Ontario, a study published earlier this month said the rate of young men contacting Ontario’s mental health helpline for gambling-related problems has increased by more than 300 per cent after the province allowed private online gambling.

The researchers behind the study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal said the findings showed a need for stronger harm-reduction measures and more access to treatment.

Dr. Daniel Myran, a research chair at North York General Hospital who co-authored the study, said the study includes concerns around micro-betting and other types of gambling that are associated with higher risk of addiction.

“Let’s say that you bet on the outcome of the Super Bowl. It’s one bet that you’ve made. But you can now actually bet on events that occur within the game itself,” he said.

“That means that if you lose money, you might do what’s called loss chasing, where you try and re-wager it to win more, and it can really accelerate people into gambling disorders.”

Myran noted there has been a higher volume of gambling marketing since the privatization of betting in the province.

“I think that we need to think very carefully about who these ads are reaching and the messages that they’re conveying,” he said.

“When we see that the visits or the contacts have really gone up in young men, I think that this is exactly who’s being targeted by the advertisements and who’s going to be placing sports bets.”

He said the study’s findings underscore why gambling disorders need to be treated as a public health issue and treatment should be readily available.

–with files from The Canadian Press

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More Ontario men are contacting gambling helpline, study says

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INDIANAPOLIS — It’s hard to be surprised by Mitchell Robinson’s rebounding prowess at this point. It’s a recurring theme. 

But even for him, this was a special performance. 

He recorded a career-high 22 rebounds in the Knicks’ 101-92 win over the Pacers Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Nine of them were on the offensive glass. 

Perhaps just as important, though, he played 31 minutes, his biggest workload of the season. 

“It definitely feels good,” Robinson told The Post. “First time playing 30 minutes. Just getting out there and playing like that, to see the buildup, all the hard work I put in with this plan.” 

Robinson has already played more games than either of the past two seasons. The Knicks’ load management plan for him — not playing both legs of back-to-backs, and at times sitting non back-to-back games — has clearly worked, even it’s been frustrating at times. 

His workloads are only increasing. That’s a good development for the Knicks heading into the playoffs. 

“It’s obviously shown that it’s paid off,” coach Mike Brown told The Post, “because of his ability to, knock on wood, stay on the floor and play in games and play the minutes he played tonight.” 

Beyond Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns both missing Friday’s game due to knee soreness, Jeremy Sochan was out due to illness. 

Pacome Dadiet, with the Knicks shorthanded, got very rare non-blowout minutes. In fact, Dadiet, along with Ariel Hukporti, came in together as Brown’s first subs of the game in the first quarter.

Dadiet promptly drilled a 30-foot 3-pointer from the logo as the shot clock expired in the first quarter. He also got a brief stretch of action in the third quarter. 

Braidy Wassilyn’s goal just 1:06 into third period stood up as the game winner as the London Knights held off the Guelph Storm 4-3 on Friday, March 13, at Canada Life Place.

Jesse Nurmi returned to the lineup from illness and had a pair of assists in the victory that pulled the Knights to within a single point of the Soo Greyhounds for fourth place in the Western Conference and home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Both London and the Greyhounds have four games remaining and it is now guaranteed that they will be first round opponents.

There are good starts to a game and then there is what the Knights had going through the first five minutes and 42 seconds of the first period.

The score was 3-0 for London and shots on goal were 12-0.

Evan Van Gorp finished off a five-shot barrage with his fourth goal in five games just 2:50 into the game.

The goal was challenged by the Storm for offside, but after review it stood and the miss on the challenge landed Guelph in the penalty box with a bench minor for delay of game.

Just 24 seconds into the power play, Jesse Nurmi fed Will Nicholl for his 12th of the year to make it 2-0.

On another Knight man advantage, Henry Brzustewicz scored his 17th goal of the season and it was 3-0 for London.

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That goal ended the night for Storm goaltender Zach Jovanovski as he was replaced by Colin Ellsworth.

Shortly after, a hit by London’s Brody Cook on former Knight Noah Jenken resulted in a five-minute major and a game misconduct for Cook for kneeing and a leg injury to Jenken that saw him leave and not return.

Guelph scored on the ensuing power play when Carter Stevens tipped in a Jakko Wycisk shot past Seb Gatto and the game went to the intermission with London ahead 3-1.

The goaltenders became the story of the second period as they stopped a combined 27 shots through the first 19 minutes and 46.1 seconds.

That’s when Ethan Miedema chased down a puck and scored with just 13.9 seconds to shrink the Knights lead to 3-2 heading to the final 20 minutes.

Ryan Brown of the Knights forced a turnover a little over one minute into the third period and Braidy Wassilyn buried a shot from the slot for his 18th goal of the year to stretch the score back to a two-goal advantage.

A turnover behind the London net with 4:10 remaining gave Layne Gallacher of the Storm an empty net to shoot at and he tightened the gap to a goal at 4-3.

Guelph defenceman Quinn Beauchesne received a match penalty for slashing Brown of the Knights at 17:04.

Brown was able to stay in the game and London held on for their third win of the season over the Storm.

The Knights outshot Guelph 37-25.

London was 2-for-5 on the power play.

The Storm went 1-for-3.

No OHL team will reach 50 wins in 2025-26

The math won’t allow it. For the first time in 13 seasons, no Ontario Hockey League team will finish the year with 50 victories.

Even the 2019-20 season that was ended early due to the start of the pandemic had a 50-win team.

During the 12 straight seasons that have had a 50-win club the London Knights have hit the 50-mark four times, Erie has hit it four times and Ottawa has done it three times.

In 2025-26 Brantford and Kitchener can each reach 49 which incidentally was the high mark the last time 50 was not hit – when the Knights had 49 in 2011-12.

Up next

London will head to Windsor to meet the Spitfires for the fifth time this year at 4 p.m., on Sunday, March 15.

The Knights won their last visit to the WFCU Centre in overtime on a game-winning goal by Andoni Fimis on

Windsor won the last game between the teams when they downed the Knights 6-1 0n Feb. 27 at Canada Life Place.

Coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors say they aren’t going to let another team disrespect one of their players again.

Head coach Darko Rajakovic said the Raptors had a team meeting after New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray stood over Jamal Shead, shouting at him, in the final minutes of Toronto’s 122-111 loss on Wednesday. Murray earned a technical foul on the play but his three-pointer gave New Orleans an 18-point lead.

“After watching the film, I thought that we did not handle that situation the way we want, that we were supposed to,” Rajakovic said before Friday’s game against the Phoenix Suns. “Our players, they had conversations with each other. They know that that was not the true picture and image of our team.

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“They all agreed, they know that it’s never going to happen again.”

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Shead was playing tight, physical defence against Murray with a little over 90 seconds left in the game. Murray got a step on Shead and launched his three-point attempt as the Raptors guard fell to the court trying to catch up.

After Murray swished the ball, he loomed over the prone Shead. Pelicans forward Herbert Jones and centre Yves Missi came over to the celebrating Murray, with Jones chest bumping him and then shoving him back to the New Orleans bench as the referee teed him up.

Only Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley seemed to stand up for Shead, jogging over to Jones and confronting him. Officials then separated Quickley and Murray.

Rajakovic was asked how he would have liked the players on the court, including all-stars Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram, to react.

“There’s a way that you need to stand up for each other and protect each other, and this team that we have is all about that and all about connectivity, and it needs to be addressed the right way,” said Rajakovic.

Quickley said that it’s “very important” for teammates to stick up for each other.

“We’re all like brothers in here,” said Quickley, sitting at his locker at Scotiabank Arena. “Probably spend more time in here with these guys, than most of my actual family, so it’s always important to have each other’s back.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

NORTH PORT, Fla. — Tim Naehring has lived through the highs of Gerrit Cole and the lows of Kei Igawa. CC Sabathia fronting a championship and the hype, hope and quick fizzle that was Deivi Garcia. 

In 19 seasons with the Yankees, 11 as vice president of baseball operations, Naehring has helped form many permutations of the rotation. And so it resonates when he says this is the best he has felt about a group as a season approaches because of “The top-end talent, depth and prospects coming. … This could be a very dynamic pitching staff that has impact and depth.” 

Of course, Naehring adds the proviso about both the need for general health of those pitching right now and that the positive rehab progressions of Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt continue. Because depth can evaporate quickly when it comes to pitching. 

The Braves have lost three starters since the outset of spring training — Joey Wentz (knee) for the season and Spencer Schwellenbach (elbow) and Hurston Waldrep (elbow) for at least half a season. This from a rotation that already had lots of injury-history concerns with ace Chris Sale, Grant Holmes, Reynaldo López and Spencer Strider. 

Travis Etienne is setting the record straight.

The running back made his first appearance in New Orleans after signing a four-year, $52 million free agency deal with the Saints and he gave the local media a lesson in how to say his name properly.

“Travis Ay-chan,” he told reporters at his introductory press conference. ‘So it’d be like A-c-h-a-n-e, and that’s how you always say Travis Etienne.”

Luckily, the 27-year-old Louisiana native knows where it all went wrong — and laid some of the mispronunciation blame on himself.

“When I went to college, I kept telling them my name every day, every day, every day, and after like they just couldn’t get it,” the former Clemson star said. “I’m like, ‘It’s Ee-Tee-En, how you see it is how you say it.’ It just took off because it was easy for the announcers to say it, I didn’t have to correct them every day to say my name.”

Etienne — and the incorrect pronunciation of his name — took off during him time in South Carolina, where he won a national championship in 2018 and racked up plenty of awards as a three-time All-American and two-time ACC Player and Offensive Player of the Year. He parlayed that success into being a first-round NFL draft pick (No. 25 overall) in 2021 by the Jaguars.