The Supreme Court eliminated the ban on sports betting four years ago, opening the floodgates for states to approve the practice as they pleased. As of early July, 30 states and Washington, D.C. now offer legal sportsbooks. So It comes as no surprise that 66 percent of respondents approve of sports betting compared to 55 percent In 2017, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.
Less than half approve of betting on college sports.
Still, 71 percent are concerned that the growth in sports betting will lead to more problem gaming. That said, the majority of respondents don’t know anyone who suffers from gambling disorders.
In other poll numbers, 37 percent of Americans say they are bothered by sportsbook ads, but not as much as prescription drug ads at 54 percent and more than beer ads which offend 25 percent.
Some 49 percent of bettors gamble online using betting or fantasy sports websites and apps, while 40 percent bet in person at a casino. A much smaller 12 percent have made bets at stadiums or arenas. Of course, there are fewer opportunities to bet where games are played.
Just 8 percent of U.S. adults placed sports bets at least once a month, and 17 percent have bet on a professional sporting event in the past five years. Among sports fans, 20 percent have made a bet.
Among avid sports fans, 48 percent have placed a bet in the past five years, and 32 percent say they bet once a month or more often, according to the Post-UMD poll.
Age makes a difference. 62 percent of sports bettors under 50 have bet online compared with 26 percent of those 50 and older. Bettors under 50 are also far more likely to have bet at a stadium or arena.
Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said his group’s internal data showed some uptick in the number of gamblers since 2018, but not by a large margin. “It means a lot of the people are shifting from gambling illegally to legally,” he said. “Within the betting community, you’re looking at frequency and spend. We suspect that is going up.”
Chris Grove, a co-founding partner of Acies Investments, which focuses on gambling, sports and technology, said legalizing gambling was never going to turn non-sports fans or people who had no interest in gambling into sports bettors.
“But the U.S. is clearly on pace to meet or exceed the performance of more mature gambling markets on an adjusted-GDP-per-capita basis.”
The poll was conducted online between May 4 and 17, 2022, among a random national sample of 1,503 adults by The Washington Post and the University of Maryland’s Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.
