Findings From a Wheatley Institute National Survey on Gambling in America
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Gambling in America is undergoing a social makeover. In the eight years since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to legalize sports betting, gambling has moved from the casino floor to the smartphone, becoming more accessible and less stigmatized than at any point in the nation’s history. Americans legally wagered roughly $4.9 billion on sports in 2017; in 2025 they wagered nearly $167 billion.1 As journalist McKay Coppins concluded after spending a season betting on professional football for The Atlantic, the industry is now “turning all of American life into a Las Vegas table game.”2
To better understand how this shift is shaping American culture, the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University fielded a national survey of 2,665 adults, paying particular attention to young adults ages 18 to 29.3 What we found is not reassuring.
Key Findings
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Toggle ItemGambling is now a mainstream habit in America, particularly among young adults.
More than half of adults (55%) gamble at least once a month, and roughly 1 in 8 gamble every day. Gambling is widespread among men and women of all ages, but rates are highest among young adults, especially young men, who are driving the growth of mobile sports betting, fantasy sports, prediction markets, and crypto trading.
Men are also more likely to gamble for higher stakes. When compared with women, men are three times more likely to report having lost more than $1,000 in a single day of gambling. Among young adults, making money has overtaken entertainment as the leading reason for gambling, a sign that many in the rising generation see betting as a way to get ahead rather than simply a pastime.
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Toggle ItemMany Americans see gambling as a way to make money, and most misjudge their own odds of winning.
While most people view gambling as entertainment, a close second are those who see it as a viable way to make money and earn income. About 4 in 10 adults name making money as a main reason they gamble, and among young adults it is the leading reason. Most people understand that nearly all gamblers lose over time, yet about half of adults believe they would personally win or break even in a single hour of gambling.
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Toggle ItemGambling has become one of the most widely accepted vices in American life.
Most Americans see gambling as a legitimate form of entertainment. In our survey, 64% of adults agreed that gambling is legitimate entertainment as long as one does not become addicted or bet more than one can afford. Only about 4 in 10 of our respondents said that betting is morally wrong. Even among those who do consider gambling morally wrong, about 7 in 10 still reported gambling in the past year. People most often learn about gambling from YouTube, friends, and family, which means it reaches the rising generation through the same phones, feeds, and relationships they already rely on.
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Toggle ItemMany people who try to step away from gambling find it hard to stay away.
Half of men in our survey have downloaded a betting app on their phone. Of these men, about 78% eventually delete the app, and of those, about 75% reinstall it. This “delete and reinstall” loop suggests that many users recognize that gambling is harming them yet are drawn back into it. Among those who gamble at least weekly, about 8% wager $500 or more a week, and a notable share of gamblers report familiar warning signs of a problem, such as chasing losses, needing bigger bets for the same thrill, and lying about their gambling to loved ones.
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Toggle ItemThe harms of gambling are already reaching individuals, families, and communities.
Despite how new the mobile betting boom is, a meaningful share of individuals and families are already experiencing its costs: 2 in 5 adults know someone with a gambling problem, 1 in 5 have been hurt by someone else’s gambling, and more frequent gambling is linked to more depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. Surprisingly, we also found that people who attend religious services more often are more likely to gamble, a pattern that holds across every form of gambling.
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Toggle ItemResponding well will require education, better safeguards, and renewed moral clarity.
Taken together, these findings suggest that gambling is being successfully rebranded from a troubling vice to a harmless and morally acceptable form of entertainment. We conclude by discussing four responses: public education that corrects the narrative around gambling, stronger and more accessible self-exclusion programs, increased regulation of betting companies, and renewed moral clarity about what gambling costs individuals, families, and our society.
About the Authors
Stephen Cranney is a data scientist with a Ph.D. in demography and sociology from the university of Pennsylvania.
Paul Lambert is the Religion Initiative Director at the Wheatley Institute. He holds a DLS in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University.
Shima Baradaran Baughman is the Woodruff J. Deem Professor of Law at Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School and a Distinguished Fellow at the Wheatley Institute.
Anna Elmer is a member of the Wheatley Institute team. She holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from Brigham Young University.
Jason Carroll is the Director of the Marriage and Family Initiative at the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. Dr. Carroll is a past recipient of the Berscheid-Hatfield Award for Distinguished Scientific Achievement given by the International Association for Relationship Research.