There is data confirming that most gamblers lose.
A study released in July 2025 provided more evidence of what was already widely known — very few online gamblers withdraw more money than they deposit.
The study from the University of California San Diego Rady School of Management analyzed a “financial panel dataset provided by an anonymous company.” Researchers found that just 4% of online bettors withdrew more than they spent over a five-year period (2019-23).
Researchers were able to track spending with online gambling brands such as DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, Bet365, BetMGM, and others.
Online Gambling Loss Study
Researchers constructed a panel of 717,724 anonymous consumers who used “cards” regularly for necessary expenses and discretionary spending. The study was among Americans but researchers didn’t provide specifics on gambler location.
There were some limitations to the study.
The study, which found that most gamblers lose, could not distinguish between daily fantasy sports (DFS), online casino, and traditional online sports betting among the merchants. Losses from those forms of gambling were included as one dataset.
More than 30 states sanction online sports betting. Meanwhile, online casino gambling is in fewer than 10 states.
Losses from online lottery, promoted by a dozen states, weren’t accounted for in the consumer data. Prediction-style sports gambling from Kalshi and Polymarket also wasn’t analyzed. It is known that on Kalshi, for example, users have a negative 22% rate of return when factoring in fees.
Venmo and PayPal deposits into online gambling platforms were also beyond what the study could observe.
Furthermore, the study couldn’t observe account balances on the online gambling platforms.
It’s also unclear how many of the 4% of purportedly “winning” players deposited once, got lucky initially, and then withdrew to never or seldomly play again within the five year-period.
If gamblers play long enough they will lose money. The more you gamble the more money you lose.
Why Most Gamblers Lose
Researchers provided commentary on the widespread industry practice of limiting bettors who found short-term success. In their comments, the study authors suggested that the practice also reduces the percentage of online bettors who win.
Still, limits or not, most bettors lose in the long run.
“Of the more than 700,000 gamblers that we studied, 96% percent appeared to lose money to online gambling,” said Kenneth C. Wilbur, professor of marketing and analytics at the Rady School and co-author of the study. “Only 4% made money from online betting. That is by design. Online gambling platforms often ban or throttle frequent winners’ accounts.”
The study didn’t discuss how app developers make the product addictive, such as through push notifications and pushing parlays that trigger the gambling near-miss effect.
Researchers didn’t study problem gambling in the paper, but they made note of “existing literature” and said that their analysis is relevant for policy making around online betting.
According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, roughly 30% of online bettors experience problems with their gambling. Gambling Harm estimates this betting addiction statistics figure to be as high as 40-50% based on other polling data.
A recent betting revenue study found that half of betting industry revenue comes from the top 2% of the most severely addicted players. Most gamblers lose, but the industry relies on addiction.
Because addiction can take years to develop, the UC San Diego study period wouldn’t capture losses from all problems gamblers.
Bottom line: This was another study showing that online betting is a long-term losing endeavor for virtually every person who plays, with harm to a significant share of bettors.
Image via Pixabay.
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