The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a U.S. special forces soldier, on April 23, 2026, for using insider information to make bets on Maduro’s...
Mississippi creates academic centre on student gambling
The University of Mississippi has created the nation’s first academic centre that focuses on student gambling, called the Centre on Collegiate Gambling.
The centre was approved by the university’s board of trustees and will conduct research, prevention, and treatment measures while studying the impacts of gambling on collegiate sports integrity.
The creation of the centre is connected to the latest findings of increased gambling activity among college students, as a multi-campus study showed that 39% of students in seven state universities had gambled during 2025. Additionally, 6% of students who engaged in sports betting met the American Psychiatric Association’s criteria for problem gambling.
Daniel Durkin, associate professor of social work at the university, stated:
“We were seeing a developing gambling problem, and not a whole lot of people were actually doing anything about it. When we started going to national gambling conferences, that’s where we realized that more direct efforts were needed in the collegiate gambling space.”
The centre has the goal of filling a research gap by investigating different gambling behaviors on campus, from card games to prediction markets. Researchers also aim to develop evidence-based treatment plans. The measure aligns with wider national policy developments, as states are introducing bills against different forms of gambling.
House Bill 1047, which aimed to legalize online and retail sports betting in Oklahoma, was rejected by the Senate on April 22, 2026, by a 27-21 vote.Despite having tribal...
