Are Americans Souring on Sports Gambling? 

Considerably more adults in the United States say legalized sports gambling is a bad thing than did three years ago. 

That was among several interesting findings from a Pew Research Center survey published earlier this month. 

A New Development 

The Supreme Court of the United States cleared the way for sports betting across the country in 2018 when it struck down a federal law that essentially limited it to Nevada. 

Since then, 38 states have legalized sports gambling in some form, and new services have sprung up to provide people with the opportunity to place bets, particularly via smart phone app. 

Along the way, advertising for sports betting has also become nearly ubiquitous on television, radio, podcasts and online. 

That makes it seem like everyone is betting on sports these days, but Pew found that is far from the case. 

Overall, 22% of adults reported having placed a bet on sports in the last 12 months, but that includes all methods of wagering. 

The most common is still with friends and family, such as in a private betting pool or fantasy league (15%) followed by 10% who placed a bet with an app, sports book or casino and 8% who did so in person at a casino, racetrack or kiosk. 

Is Gambling Popular? 

More notable is the fact 43% of Americans told Pew that gambling on sports becoming legal in much of the U.S. is a bad thing for society, up from 34% when the same question was asked three years ago. 

Meanwhile, only 7% said it is a god thing, down 1 point from 2022, while 50% were indifferent. 

The increased negative point of view that was consistent over every demographic Pew measured, including men (45%), women (40%) and even both sports bettors themselves (up from 23% to 34% in 2025) and non-sports bettors (36 to 45). 

The largest increase was among people 18-29, who were least likely to say legalized sports gaming was bad three years ago. Then it was 23%, but now it is 41 — two points higher than people 30-39. 

And for young men, the increase was even higher as 47% of men under 30 said legal sports betting is bad for society, more than double 2022 when the answer was 22%. 

In a perhaps related finding, the 18-29 age group was also most likely to say they had placed a bet in the previous 12 months (31%).

A smaller percentage of people (40) said legalizing gambling is bad for sports (as opposed to society) while the percentage of people saying it is a good thing for sports was much higher (17) than those who said it was good for society. 

More About the Survey

Pew contacted more than 10,000 people for this survey and got responses from 9,916.

It took place from July 8-August 3.

Click here to see more about the survey from Pew.