Nearly 1 in 5 Arizona adults are in the risk zone for a gambling problem. That’s the state’s own number. A newly published survey from the Arizona Department of Gaming found 84% of adults in the state gambled in the past 12 months, and 30% gamble every single week. Nearly 20% scored in the moderate to high risk range on the Problem Gambling Severity Index, the standard screening tool for this. Sports betting became legal in Arizona in 2021. In May 2026 alone, the state’s 14 licensed operators took in more than $670 million in bets. Elise Mikkelsen, who directs the Division of Problem Gambling at the Department of Gaming, said the jump in frequency caught her off guard. Her point was that when new products hit the market everyone has a good time first and the fallout usually takes years to surface, so seeing this at the three-year mark surprised her. She pointed to sheer accessibility as the driver, including unlicensed platforms operating outside the state system, and said she doesn’...