KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In an Arrowhead Stadium parking lot full of football fans, University of Kansas student Thad Flournoy wants the Kansas City Chiefs to win and he's put his money where his mouth is by putting some cash on the outcome. "It's a lot of fun because not only are you cheering for your team but also cheering to win some money on the side," Flournoy said. Flournoy and some of his KU friends have been placing bets since Kansas legalized sports gambling and allowed the first wagers in September 2022. "Game to game, not great," said Flournoy's friend Joey Meyer when asked how his betting has gone so far. When could you place a sports bet in Missouri? Yet, Meyer was pulling for Missouri voters to add the one thing that their tailgate didn't have: the ability to make a last-second wager before going into their seats. Tuesday night, Missouri voters narrowly approved sports wagering in Missouri by just more than 4,000 votes. State regulators have to start the program by the end of 2025. Experts think it could be ready for the start of the 2025 NFL season. "Right now, we're in Missouri, we were talking about making bets on the way in," Meyer said. "We stopped at a gas station just to make some bets before we came in here." Flournoy, Meyer, and other sports betters say a combination of sports knowledge from their fandom, easy access to expert analysis and picks, and responsible limits help them have fun and keep them from losing what they can't afford. But, researchers at Northwestern, BYU, and KU are some of the first people collecting data about the bigger impact of placing mobile sports bets. "What's different, they've made it as easy as possible," said KU Assistant Professor of Finance Kevin Pisciotta. The Data Pisciotta co-wrote the paper "Gambling Away Stability: Sports Betting's Impact on Vulnerable Households," looking at financial information across the United States before and after 38 states allowed sports betting following a the Supreme Court decision overturning a federal ban in 2018. That decision opened the door for 30 states and the District of Columbia to allow mobile sports betting. Pisciotta and his co-authors found that when states legalize sports betting, wagering drastically increases, people make fewer investments while tending to run up credit card balances, and generally straining their finances. Over time, the data suggests those betters also risk more money with bigger deposits and bigger bets as they get hooked. The paper also finds those effects are especially felt in households with less income to absorb big losses. "[Betters risk] 5 to 10 times as much just a few years after their first transfer," Pisciotta said. "So we can see this kind of attachment to these betting platforms." The Impact None of those findings are surprising to Chris Davis. He's been in recovery for his gambling addiction for more than a decade. "I’ve had people who are alcoholics that would say, 'It’s literally everywhere, you go to a restaurant, this and that,' I’m like, '[Sports Betting] is even more than that, it’s on your phone," Davis said. Davis was already in recovery when mobile sports betting was legalized in Kansas, but he's noticing more people, largely young men, take their gambling too far since 2022. "I've heard so many stories of people that, 'I was just going to do the free bet…and how they're whole paycheck is going to that," said Davis. Davis and Pisciotta point to the onslaught of TV ads convincing people to download the sports gaming apps, at which point, push alerts, promotional boosts, and free bets get people hooked. Your Local Election Headquarters: Candidates, races and results on FOX4 "They're brilliant at what they do," Davis said. "I wish they weren’t so brilliant." On top of that, Davis says treatment options for gambling addiction lags behind the help available for substance addictions, alcohol and drugs, making it hard to keep up. "It just kind of feels like a vehicle, instead of doing maintenance, trying to keep it up from the start, trying to do the repairs after," Davis said. The Future Davis says he hopes more gambling addiction facilities open while the stigma around it fades as more states legalize sports gaming. Pisciotta says the research in "Gambling Away Stability" is helping contribute to what could one day be better-informed regulations around mobile sports gaming. "We don’t propose that the solution is shutting down sports betting but we do propose that there are some consequences to the current form that it’s in," Pisciotta said. He points out that even though plenty of people who battle addictions to gambling struggle with games inside casinos, the effort it takes to go to those physical locations present at least some barrier to the addictive behavior. A handful of the states that have legalized sports betting allow it only in certain locations. Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android "Most states don’t have [those location limitations] and that’s where we see our effects, is the states that allow you to bet wherever you are, whenever you want," Pisciotta said. "We know alcohol is addictive, we know cigarettes are addictive, but we don't make them unavailable. We try and find a mechanism to make them available in the right way, and the right way is very hard to arrive at. It's very unlikely you're going to arrive at it at the first shot." ---If you or someone you know is struggling with a gambling problem, help is available. Find resources from the Kansas Behavioral Health Services, Kansas Gambling Help, or call the National Problem Gambling Helpline Network at 1-800-522-4700. ---