Regulated sport betting better protects our kids

As a mother, my top priority is ensuring the safety and well-being of my children, and there is no more difficult place to keep kids safe than on the internet. Increasingly, unregulated offshore casino operators are using social media platforms and influencers to target teens, creating a new challenge for parents in the digital age.

One of these “social sportsbooks,” Fliff, has been marketed as “suitable for ages 13 and up,” that functions as a sports betting platform. It offers an option to wager with both a “virtual currency” known as Fliff coins with no cash value and Fliff Cash that can be redeemed for prizes or 1:1 for actual currency. A Washington Post investigation highlighted how easy it is for teens to sign up for Fliff: No ID or age verification is required, just a checkbox claiming the user is 18 or older.

Unregulated offshore casinos are also getting into the action of targeting minors. Stake, a cryptocurrency-based casino located in Curacao, has formed partnerships with influencers like Canadian rapper Drake. Before it was banned by the platform in 2022, Stake also routinely sponsored popular Twitch streamers that target young and impressionable viewers. And according to the website Awful Announcing, Stake has found a new way to target teenagers by stealing and watermarking popular social media content, often in violation of the social media sites terms and conditions.

In Georgia, where sports betting remains illegal, unregulated platforms have found a massive audience. When minors are exposed to gambling, the consequences can be lifelong. The compulsive behaviors associated with gambling addiction can form at an early age, and platforms like Stake and Fliff make it all too easy for kids to access gambling opportunities without parental knowledge or consent.

There’s a stark contrast between these unregulated platforms and legal, regulated sports betting providers. Experts consistently praise platforms like DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM for their robust protections, including ID verification and strict enforcement of age restrictions. Keith Whyte, the head of the National Council on Problem Gambling, has noted that legal operators in the United States have done an excellent job keeping minors off their platforms, thanks to sophisticated technology and regular oversight.

In the 39 states that have legalized some form of sports betting, data show that bettors vastly prefer the legal option if one is available. More importantly, legal operators offer tools that parents can enable to prevent unauthorized access by their children, including multifactor authentication, biometric logins and email alerts. Legal operators use the same identity verification services and measures as those used in the highly secure banking and financial services industries to verify customer age and identification.

Now that the Georgia General Assembly has started the 2025 session, we’ll again consider legislation to legalize sports betting in Georgia. For me, that choice is easy. A well-regulated marketplace is always preferable to a black market. Georgia policy makers can’t stop sports betting from happening in Georgia. That ship has sailed. But what we can do is make sure sports betting is only available on reputable sites with safeguards in place to ensure it is not targeted toward kids. I urge my fellow legislators to join me in voting yes.

Ballard (R-Warner Robins) represents state House District 147.