Findings From a Wheatley Institute National Survey on Gambling in America
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.
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.