Rachel A. Volberg
Research Professor of Epidemiology University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Amherst MA
Rachel Volberg is one of the world's leading experts on the social and economic aspects of gambling, sports betting and problem gambling.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Expertise
Biography
She is the first researcher to receive funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to study the prevalence of problem gambling in the general population.
Social Media
Video
Education
University of California, San Francisco
Ph.D.
Sociology
University of California, San Diego
B.A.
Sociology
Aiglon College, Chesières-Villars, Switzerland
B.C.E. (A level)
Art History, Literature
Select Recent Media Coverage
America is One Big Casino Now
Business Insider online
2024-12-19
Rachel Volberg, principal investigator of the Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) study, is quoted in a story exploring the expansion of gambling in the U.S. in 2024. “The harms radiate out into families, into the economy, into many sectors of social and cultural life,” Volberg says.
Problem Gambling in Massachusetts Increasing Among Monthly Gamblers
Sports Casting online
2024-10-22
Rachel Volberg, principal investigator of the Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) study, is quoted in an article about a decade of research into the effects of gambling in Massachusetts. “It’s pretty startling, to be honest,” she says. “While the online panels were not representative of the population, they were very informative in regards to people with gambling difficulties. It’s very helpful from a surveillance and monitoring perspective.”
State to make $3.1 million in grants to combat gambling addiction, youth gambling
The Boston Globe online
2024-10-12
Rachel Volberg comments in a story about funding from the state Department of Health to combat youth gambling. “Given this very high rate of gambling participation amongst youth in Massachusetts, I wonder if there is more that could be done in terms of regulators more effectively regulating access to the products,” she says. “Because it’s not just the consumers, it's the purveyors as well.”
Legalized sports betting creates new generation of problematic gamblers
Washington Examiner online
2024-06-26
Rachel Volberg comments in an article exploring issues related to sports betting and problem gambling. Volberg says she has “concerns about groups in the population that are particularly vulnerable to experiencing gambling problems ... These groups include adolescents, young adults, women, immigrants and people in recovery from a gambling problem.”
In Ippei Mizuhara’s text messages, problem gamblers see a familiar obsession
The Athletic online
2024-04-17
Rachel Volberg omments on allegations against the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, who is accused of stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani to pay gambling debts. “The step of going from betting in a controlled manner and with resources you have and can afford to lose, versus tipping over into a loss of control, is very individual,” Volberg says.
Study Reveals Massachusetts Casinos Fail to Fuel Problem Gambling Surge
Gambling News online
2024-04-04
A new statewide population survey conducted by the Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) research team at UMass Amherst finds the prevalence of problem and at-risk gambling has not significantly changed since casinos were introduced in Massachusetts in 2015. “We hypothesized that because of the clear exposure to casinos in Connecticut, we might not see the increase in problem gambling that often happens in the wake of the introduction of a new form of gambling,” says Rachel Volberg, and it was nice to see our hypothesis confirmed.”
The cost of legalized gambling: Disturbing new survey shows half of all sports betters in Connecticut are 'problem gamblers,' just two years after law allowing it was enacted
Daily Mail online
2024-02-13
Rachel Volberg comments on a study she led on the impacts of gambling in Connecticut following that state’s legalization of sports betting and online casino gaming in 2021. The study finds that problem gamblers are responsible for half of all sports betting in the state, but account for less than 2% of the population. “It shouldn’t be a secret to anybody in the United States that sports betting was happening even when it was purportedly illegal,” Volberg says.
Report: Encore Boston Harbor Adds Billions to the economy
Boston Herald online
2023-11-30
Rachel Volberg, research professor at UMass Amherst, says, “Over my 40 years of experience in the gambling research field, this is really the most detailed look that we’ve got of what the economic impacts of a new casino are.”
The state always wins when it comes to gambling, critics say
GBH tv
2023-06-09
“We are in the midst of one of the most explosive expansions of legalized gambling that the United States has seen in many, many years,” said Volberg. “So, you don't often hear about policymakers or anybody else really wanting to eliminate or reduce the number of gambling outlets.”
Since mobile sports betting recently became legal in Mass., advocates worry it could increase problem gambling
The Boston Globe online
2023-04-02
Researchers from UMass Amherst’s School of Public Health and Health Sciences say mobile sports betting, which recently became legal in Massachusetts, could draw in new groups of people who are vulnerable to its allure. “The younger you are when you start gambling, the more likely you are to develop a problem,”says research professor Rachel Volberg, who led a study on gambling for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
The $22 Billion Wager: DraftKings and Others Are Reaching for a Piece of the Sports-Gambling Prize.
Barron's online
2022-02-11
Rachel Volberg comments about the rise of online sports gambling and how difficult it is to find statistics on how many people are betting, and who might be getting into trouble doing it.
