Americans say sports betting is bad — then place more bets
For decades, Saturday mornings in October meant Americans preparing their place on the couch for their favorite college team’s football game. In recent years, a growing contingent has added another step to that ritual –– checking spreads and money lines in preparation to bet on the day’s games.
As sports betting becomes increasingly pervasive in American culture, so too are Americans’ views of it growing dimmer and dimmer. That’s according to a new survey published by the Pew Research Center, which found that nearly half of respondents view sports betting as bad for society.
Americans think betting is bad for America
In 2022, Pew conducted a similar study, which found that 34% of U.S. adults believed sports betting was bad for society. Today, that number has ticked up to 43%. Likewise, 40% of respondents said betting is bad for the sports industry, compared with 33% three years prior.
“I think these numbers may reflect a growing resistance from those who were previously indifferent to sports betting,” said Brian Petrotta, an assistant professor of sports media and communication at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “My impression is that those who were excited about the legalization of sports betting continue to wager, but perhaps those who initially shrugged their shoulders are finding more reasons to become actively anti-gambling.”
For Victor Matheson, a professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross, the issue could just as well be personal.
“In part, I think people are getting tired of getting bombarded by sport betting advertising,” Matheson told SAN. “Plus, as time progresses, more and more people will know or have heard of someone who has had a very negative experience with sports betting addiction. Those numbers just move up over time.”
Despite increasing numbers of people believing betting is bad for society, the number of people who reported placing bets has also grown –– 22% in 2025 compared with 19% in 2022. However, when taken in a larger context, the uptick is comparatively small.
“Sports betting has become more normalized, so there is really no surprise we are seeing more people doing this. Plus, as additional states come online, there will be more people nationwide gambling,” Matheson said. “I mean, the percentage of people gambling only went up three percentage points in the poll, despite the fact that there were about eight more states allowing sports betting in 2025 as opposed to 2022.”
Similarly, there’s a psychological phenomenon at play, which Petrotta referred to as the “third-person effect scenario.”
“A person may believe that widespread gambling is bad for society because others will develop problems, but they believe that they themselves can control their own behavior,” Petrotta said.
Betting in the modern world
The betting Pew accounted for can take one of three forms: with friends or family, such as in a private betting pool, fantasy league or casual bet; online with a betting app, sportsbook or casino; or in person at a casino, racetrack or betting kiosk.
Of those three methods, online sports betting is the only one to have seen an increase over the past three years, from 6% in 2022 to 10% in 2025.
While the idea that sports betting is bad for society held across all demographic groups surveyed by Pew, one of the most dramatic and notable shifts was seen in young men. In 2022, 22% of men under 30 believed that sports gambling was bad for society. Today, that number has more than doubled, topping out at 47%. Coincidentally, young men are also the most likely contingent to place a wager on a sporting event.
Will the system change?
Americans may be taking a dimmer view of legalized sports betting, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to dampen the industry’s outlook. According to ESPN, the U.S. sports betting industry put up a record $13.7 billion in revenue in 2024.
Given that, Petrotta doesn’t see wholesale changes coming to the world of sports betting any time soon. “Unless, or until, public sentiment begins to affect the bottom line, I have a hard time believing that the industry will make meaningful changes,” Petrotta said.
Likewise, Matheson said that as long as a few dedicated bettors continue to place bets, the industry won’t be threatened.
“This industry was never about trying to get everyone to do a little bit of gambling. It is about getting a small handful of people to gamble a lot,” Matheson said. “So, I don’t know that society generally turning against the industry keeps the gambling industry from attracting those small numbers of heavy users.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
