Sports Betting Support Plummets Among Industry’s Customer Base

The number of Americans who support sports betting has dropped significantly, according to a Pew Research Center poll.

A survey taken in July/August 2025 found that 43% of U.S. adults believe state-sanctioned sports betting is a “bad thing for society,” up from 34% in 2022.

Sports betting support has dropped among the industry’s core customer base of young men.

The survey of nearly 10,000 U.S. adults found that 47% of men under 30 say legal sports betting is a bad thing for society, up from 22% in 2022.

The worsening attitudes came as betting addiction statistics have shown that at least half of online bettors chase losses. Belief in gambling-related myths could also be growing.

‘Out of Control’ Betting Industry

Dr. Harry Levant, Director of Gambling Policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI), told GamblingHarm.org that the Pew survey shows the general public has become aware that the betting industry is “behaving with impunity and is out of control.”

“The public health movement is gaining momentum,” Levant said. “The public is upset, as this is not sports betting. This is AI tech delivering an addictive product. The public never asked for a highly addictive and inherently dangerous product.”

Among all adults, just 7% say legal sports betting is good for society, down from 8% in 2022. Half of adults don’t see legal sports betting as good or bad, down from 57%.

Sports betting is less popular across all demographic groups included in the Pew survey.

State-sanctioned sportsbooks generated $13.74 billion in revenue from Americans in 2024.

More Evidence of Legal Betting’s Weak Popularity

The Pew poll followed other worrying 2025 surveys for the industry.

An early 2025 survey from Sacred Heart University found that only 36.9% of Americans believe sports gambling has a more positive than negative effect on society. Approximately 48.4% think the impact is more negative.

A Morning Consult survey published in March 2025 found that 33% of U.S. adults said that, in general, they believe legal sports betting is a “good thing” for the country as a whole, while 31% said it was a bad thing. The remaining respondents were unsure.

California has no legal sports betting, but the industry has long tried to change that. A California betting poll from August 2025 showed that 25% of voters support legal sports betting. About a third of Californians are unsure whether it should be legal, and 40% think the state should not be in the business of endorsing sports gambling.

In Missouri, which launched legal sports betting in December 2025, the referendum to allow betting apps was approved by fewer than 3,000 votes.

And in Georgia, for example, sports betting remains highly controversial, which is why significant industry lobbying efforts have so far been unsuccessful.

Washington Post-UMD Poll (December 2025)

Another 2025 public opinion poll concerning sports betting showed declining attitudes towards the industry.

A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll published on Dec. 15, 2025, found that 20% of U.S. sports bettors think it’s definitely “a bad thing” for more states to legalize sports betting. In 2022, the same poll found that just 3% of sports bettors felt this way.

That was a nearly 7-fold increase in three years.

More and more users of betting apps are witnessing and feeling the harmful impacts of legalization and regulation. Industry critics have for years said that existing state regulation is too weak.

Overall, the Post-UMD poll found that 36% of U.S. adults think more sports betting legalization is a bad thing, up from 23% in 2022. Half of Americans are neutral, and just 14% support states legalizing sports betting.

Support for legalizing sports betting is deteriorating across the board.

The Post-UMD poll was conducted in December 2025 and consisted of 1,032 U.S. adults.

The larger Pew survey of over 10,000 U.S. adults conducted in summer 2025 found that 43% of U.S. adults believe state-sanctioned sports betting is a “bad thing for society.”

What The Betting Industry Says

The betting app industry claims sports betting has strong political support.

The American Gaming Association, the legal sports betting sector’s top lobbying group, conducted a survey in July/August 2024. The AGA said its poll of 2,000 registered voters aged 21 and over showed widespread support.

The AGA said 75% of Americans support legal sports betting in their home state.

When framed as a “should it be legal?” question, sports betting appears to fare better.

A February 2025 survey from the Associated Press found that 58% of Americans think sports betting should be legal in their state. However, only 43% think their state should sanction betting on college sports.

Prior Polling Lags Behind ‘Prediction Markets’

There was one major problem for both the Pew and Post-UMD sports betting surveys.

In 2025, the U.S. federal government gave the green light (some critics say turned a blind eye) to nationwide online sports betting in the form of stock-market-style “prediction markets.”

States that haven’t legalized sports betting are now faced with these new “prediction” products.

2026 will be the most chaotic year yet for the U.S. online sports betting market, which exploded following a 2018 SCOTUS ruling that repealed a federal prohibition on sports betting.

In 2024, Americans spent $13.74 billion on state-sanctioned sports betting products. Expenditures grew significantly in 2025, with numerous states setting records for handle and/or revenue during the 2025 NFL season.

What’s Next for Sports Betting

One of those retail-only betting states is Nebraska, where the sports gambling industry is seeking to expand to the internet. A Nebraska sports betting ballot question was in the works as of late 2025.

As mentioned, California and Georgia are battlegrounds for legislation to legalize sports gambling. So are states like Texas and Alabama. In September 2025, Donald Trump Jr. publicly called for Georgia and Alabama to legalize.

The betting app industry is facing headwinds from new competition. The so-called prediction sports betting sites, such as Kalshi and Polymarket, operate under federal jurisdiction and can offer betting nationwide.

States with legal sports betting, such as Nevada, New York, Arizona, and Massachusetts, have fought back in court.

There is growing momentum for a federal crackdown on offshore and sweepstakes sportsbooks, which siphon billions of dollars in revenue annually from the legal sports betting market.

Critics of the legal betting industry have called for passage of the SAFE Bet Act, which would establish stricter guardrails for the industry. The legislation could have greater momentum with worsening attitudes towards the industry.

In New Jersey, regulators appear to have sensed the urgency. In October 2025, New Jersey was considering gambling rule changes that seek to improve the sports betting industry’s image.