Anna Lembke

Once he was in my office, he revealed to me that he did, in fact, have an addiction problem.

But it wasn't addiction to alcohol.

It was an addiction to online gambling, sports betting.

And his story went like this.

He was a very successful high school and collegiate athlete, Division I, all kinds of accolades, really a remarkable athlete.

And that cycle of...

engagement in high-level athletics, the adrenaline that goes along with high-level competition, the wins, the losses, that absolutely was his jam, right?

It kept him busy and engaged and really, really happy.

But when that career came to its natural end, like so many high-level athletes, there was a sort of a free-falling disappointment to kind of an existential challenge.

profound disappointment, a bit of an identity crisis.

And although he was headed to medical school, which gave him kind of a new identity to latch onto, he really missed that cycle of intensity that he got through participation in sports.

And then he was invited by his collegiate buddies to participate in fantasy football, in a fantasy football league.

And, you know, they all get together and they choose their teams.

And then there was, you know, minor money involved in that.

But he got really, really into it, more so than his buddies from college did.

And that was really almost the spark for him then to begin to want to engage athletically through sports betting and sports gambling.

And, you know, it started with 50 bucks, 100 bucks.

And at this time, he's now started medical school.

He's doing his pre-med courses.

He's getting ready for his clinical years.