ST. PAUL – The Senate Finance Committee held an informational hearing on the social harms caused by online sports betting.

This is ahead of the new legislative session which is expected to include another attempt by lawmakers to pass a sports wagering bill in Minnesota. The hearing included compulsive gamblers sharing their horror stories.

One person told the committee said he drained his family’s accounts, his retirement accounts, and his kid’s college funds. He said, “The online betting was so abstracted that I lost all concept of what money was.”

The hearing was led by DFL Senator John Marty from Roseville, who says there needs to be even more discussion about the ills of sports gambling and not just about who will make money off the proposal.