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Americans Increasingly See Legal Sports Betting as a Bad Thing For Society and Sports (pewresearch.org) 81

Posted by msmash from the serenity-now dept.
Pew Research: Public awareness of legal sports betting has grown in recent years -- and so has the perception that it is a bad thing for society and sports, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Today, 43% of U.S. adults say the fact that sports betting is now legal in much of the country is a bad thing for society. That's up from 34% in 2022. And 40% of adults now say it's a bad thing for sports, up from 33%.

Despite these increasingly critical views of legal sports betting, many Americans continue to say it has neither a bad nor good impact on society and on sports. Fewer than one-in-five see positive impacts. Meanwhile, the share of Americans who have bet money on sports in the past year has not changed much since 2022.

Today, 22% of adults say they've personally bet money on sports in the past year. That's a slight uptick from 19% three years ago. This figure includes betting in any of three ways:
1. With friends or family, such as in a private betting pool, fantasy league or casual bet
2. Online with a betting app, sportsbook or casino
3. In person at a casino, racetrack or betting kiosk Further reading: Filipinos Are Addicted to Online Gambling. So Is Their Government.
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Americans Increasingly See Legal Sports Betting as a Bad Thing For Society and Sports More

Americans Increasingly See Legal Sports Betting as a Bad Thing For Society and Sports

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  • If you don't like it, don't bet.

    Forcing people to bet ILLEGALLY is not reasonable.

    If you want took about bad for society, look at alcohol. Go ban that. See what happens.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      gambling is bad and has been proven bad over and over again. we should be not enabling "easier" gambling.

      • It's my money and I should be able to do whatever I want with it.

        • It won't be yours for long!

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          It's my money and I should be able to do whatever I want with it.

          That sounds nice and reasonable. But what happens when you keep gambling and gambling and spending and spending. If enough people do that it becomes a problem for society in general. That is the number one reason why gambling has always been mostly illegal.

        • sure. but commercial gambling should be illegal

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      And giving sports betters control over games is good? Players are throwing games for people's bets, that's healthy? Gambling only drains money from people who are stupid enough to do it, which is usually people that don't have money in the first place. And to what end, redistribution of money?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Nicholas Grayhame ( 10502767 )

      it's not so easy, gambling is addictive:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

      • Anything can be addictive. That doesn't mean that we should go around banning things just because some person or group of people can't control themselves. Making it illegal almost never works to prevent the behavior as black markets will pop up in the place of legal alternatives.

        Perhaps in the future people will be sentenced to extensive therapy sessions to help treat their underlying compulsions instead of putting them in prison or society will embrace some new form of social Darwinism and leave these p

        • I don't want to ban gambling. I want to make the commercial gambling industry illegal. commercial gambling doesn't has a positive side

          if a parent gambles away his/her money and the children go on welfare, I have to pay for them

          why should my money have to support the victims of the commercial gambling industry? commercial gambling should be illegal.

          to be clear I'm not against helping people. but it would be nice if I don't have to do so

    • If I don't like it, then you shouldn't bet (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      If you don't like it, don't bet.

      There's a point of view where if I don't like gambling, then you (and everyone else) should be forcibly prevented from betting. Me abstaining from betting only resolves my conflict-of-interest, but isn't nearly enough to resolve all the possible conflicts of interest (e.g. players and refs).

      Your betting affects my game; see the 1919 World Series for an infamous example.

      • Yes. People are affected by the actions of others. Too fucking bad.

        People make decisions everyday that I don't like and affect me negatively. Too fucking bad.

        That's life.

        • People make decisions everyday that I don't like and affect me negatively. Too fucking bad.

          And back in the real world, when a dad gambles away the family money and the kids end up on welfare, we can't criminally prosecute him for social parasitism (the one criminal law from the USSR that sounds great IMHO).

          When parents become dysfunctional addicts, society picks up the tab for them and their kids. When dysfunctional addicts in general cause problems, society picks up the tab.

          If people want that "real freedo

          • Dad can piss all the money away on alcohol too. Totally legal.

            Dad can piss all the money away on tobacco too. Totally legal.

            Dad can piss on the money away chasing other women. Totally legal.

            Dad can piss all the money away on any number of things. Totally legal.

            Oh, look! Dad has freedom! Dad's freedom can negatively impact someone else. We better eliminate that freedom!

            • Considering that Dad couldn't legally bet on sports book for most of the United States' history, it wouldn't be a big ask to go back to that. It really wouldn't.

            • the commercial gambling industry, unlike alcohol/money/woman is actively exploiting people are should be made illegal

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Junta ( 36770 )

          Ok, but the survey is whether people think it's bad. If something negatively impacts you, won't you describe it as 'bad' if you are asked about it?

          • Depends on what it is, but probably not.

            I can make a distinction between "bad" and I simply don't like it.

            Child porn. Bad.

            Alcohol. I simply don't like it.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Junta ( 36770 )

              But the alcohol in the 'simply don't like it' has no impact on you. If you say 'DUI', then I think people would say 'bad' easily.

              Similarly, if you are partaking of a sport, but that sport is being distorted by gambling, then it's fair to call it out as 'bad', since it has impacts beyond the people actively doing the gambling.

        • When there were only a few thousands of us living in caves, losing a few fingers or toes every winter, starving to death before dying of old age, that was also life.

          Good thing there were some in those days that weren't angry, bitter, defeated losers like you who decided to do something to try to improve the human condition.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rta ( 559125 )

          Yes. People are affected by the actions of others. Too fucking bad.

          People make decisions everyday that I don't like and affect me negatively. Too fucking bad.

          That's life.

          Yes and society is basically a whole bunch of rules about what affecting of others is required, what's allowable and what isn't allowed.

          Manners, civil disputes, and criminal law are all about codifying, these rules and making sure people follow them.

          Whether sports betting should or shouldn't be allowed isn't any different than deciding car speed limits, building codes, banking regulations, truth on advertising laws, etc

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bsolar ( 1176767 )

      If you don't like it, don't bet.

      Forcing people to bet ILLEGALLY is not reasonable.

      If you want took about bad for society, look at alcohol. Go ban that. See what happens.

      Prohibition is not the only tool in the arsenal. E.g. banning advertisement can be effective.

      There is huge advertisement allowed for betting platforms that drive a lot of bets that IMHO should be much more strictly regulated if not outright banned.

    • Why stop there? Why not legalize all grifting. Commercial gambling is always just middle-men preying on people who are bad at math. Even if you are "good" and you win, you're just taking money from people who aren't.

      The only reason we give state sponsored gambling a pass is because schools benefit from people participating. It's a voluntary additional tax.

      The question isn't why shouldn't people be free to gamble, it's why should commercial enterprise be allowed to exist that preys on it?

      • Why stop there? Why not legalize all grifting.M/EM>
        BR? Have you not seen who is in the White House? He's the biggest grifter we have. He routinely pardons people convicted of financial crimes as well.

      • Sports betting on its own isn't necessarily a grift. People making a bet against their coworkers between their favorite teams that are about to face off is just something fans do. Office pools etc. are perfectly normal, and there really isn't a middleman there.

        The large sports book sites ARE middlemen and they do skim enough off the top where maybe they should be viewed with some skepticism. But the core of what people are doing - or are TRYING to do - doesn't necessarily fall under the umbrella of grift

        • And this is really all about the sites. An office pool isn't really treated as illegal even when it is, because it's small enough scale to hopefully stay harmless.

    • Exploitation is not something we as a society should encourage with a legal framework. Not every business venture is valid.

    • It's not really about being concerned for people who shouldn't bet but do. It's about the corruption that betting brings to sport. When players are influenced to do or not do things in order to give bettors (maybe themselves) a better chance to win money, the game itself loses integrity (such as it has).

    • Sports betting WAS ALWAYS banned in (almost?) every State - this is a recent change, and it doesn't look like it is going well.

  • Really, really bad and stupid too
    Unfortunately, it's been a part of human society for thousands of years
    Along with war and religion, it appears that people have some serious, structural problems baked in

  • OMG, we haven't made something illegal yet? Surely we must strive for a society where everything not prohibited is compulsory. Thankfully, California is leading the way, and Scott Wiener is our hero.

  • No shit (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sziring ( 2245650 ) on Friday October 03, 2025 @11:27AM (#65701144)

    Always a bad idea, esp for college level players.

  • Gambling owns sports these days (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 ) on Friday October 03, 2025 @11:29AM (#65701152)

    It used to be that, once a year, you'd enter a football pool with coworkers. Now, every televised sporting event bombards you with gambling ads, and the leagues are in cahoots. The sports are taking backseat to the gambling and have lost what little majesty they had left. I no longer watch any sports on TV, go to games, or follow teams.

    This is in addition to all the horrible harms of gambling addiction.

    • Gambling ads are now so pervasive that I wonder how people recovering from compulsive gambling manage. They're all over traditional TV, streaming TV, the Internet, radio ads, magazine ads, etc... Even supposedly "ad free" streaming services like to slip in an ad or two at the start of a show. Either you quickly learn to resist temptation or you are screwed.

    • It used to be that, once a year, you'd enter a football pool with coworkers.

      The big problem with sports betting is that it's easy to access. March Madness pools are once a year. Football pools are only during the season. These pools generally deal with relatively small amounts. Casino gambling is year round, but it requires driving to the casino. Sports betting is something that can be done from one's couch, and so the inhibitions that prevent gambling addiction for pools and casinos don't exist.

    • It used to be that, once a year, you'd enter a football pool with coworkers. Now, every televised sporting event bombards you with gambling ads, and the leagues are in cahoots. The sports are taking backseat to the gambling and have lost what little majesty they had left. I no longer watch any sports on TV, go to games, or follow teams.

      This is in addition to all the horrible harms of gambling addiction.

      Who do you think pays for it to be broadcast? The gambling companies with their ads.

      For sports to reach the number of people that it does requires a lot of money Sports have gone from being funded by nicotine, to alcohol, and now gambling. All vices and all highly profitable with healthy margins. Because society has kicked out nicotine & alcohol ads (and thus sponship), all that is left is gambling.

  • Society is much MUCH more aware of the psychology and physiology of addiction in 2025 than it was even in the 1990s. That's why we're seeing a steady reduction in alcohol consumption and why a big chunk of Gen Z is radicalizing against the porn industry.

    Regardless of your opinion on gambling, porn, drinking, drugs, etc. for "people who can handle it," a lot of people simply can't. They have addiction-sensitive personalities and are more aware of that.

    The vice industries don't want speed bumps and regulation on their business models, especially with younger people. That's literally how they recruit the next generation of customers, and society needs to clamp down HARD on marketing, software development, etc. meant to entice younger people to vice industries.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rta ( 559125 )

      Harnessing our dopamine and other reward systems to "useful" or at least non destructive endeavors is definitely a challenge of the modern world.

      Traditional vice industries are one thing, but practically any hobby , if not monitored and constrained is the same. Fashion, gardening, reading, all entertainment, eating, travel, working out etc. The opportunity for distraction and addiction are so so many now.

      Putting it in always available apps with frictionless microtransactions further "weaponises" the thing

    • People were gambling with 'dice' and chicken fighting and everything 5,000 years ago. Your success will be measured against the success of stopping prostitution. Or in other words, you will never succeed even if you go full authoritarian.

      But have fun at it. Stopping those kinds of behaviors has been a pastime for many a king or dictator since the dawn of civilization. Who am I take that pastime from you with rational logic?

  • If money or power can be had it will get corrupted. So it is with business, politics and sports betting.

    In baseball, when you can bet on individual pitches it's too easy for the pitcher or umpire to fix the outcome.

    Sports betting also devalues the game. People can no longer enjoy it.

  • To me the big problem is not gambling, but LOW FRICTION gambling, where anyone can get themselves into trouble from their phone. How on Earth did this ill-thought-out legalization happen with no input from voters? The U.S. went from a nation where legal gambling was only allowed in Nevada and a few, scattered "Riverboats." Then large casinos on Native American reservations sprung up, but again, only PHYSICAL gambling venues you had to drive to. After illegal on-line betting exploded, it didn't take long for states to legalize on-line betting with a big TV advertising presence. IHMO, this happened too fast with no guard-rails, no evaluation period, and no option for review. Where were state regulators looking out for the public good?

    • Lobbying. The answer is lobbying.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by DewDude ( 537374 )

      How on Earth did this ill-thought-out legalization happen with no input from voters?

      Lots of shit gets voted on without any input from voters. Lately we've seen even when voters want something; the governments will find a way to ruin it. I mean there's lots of laws in my state I don't remember getting asked about; but the representatives do what they do.

      The U.S. went from a nation where legal gambling was only allowed in Nevada and a few, scattered "Riverboats."

      We went through a phase where gambling was largely unregulated and slowly made illegal. Nevada didn't allow gambling until the 30's. In fact in the 1850's, San Francisco had overtaken New Orleans as the gambling capital of the world; but the

    • Why we should have direct democracy.

      • We can barely get people to vote once every few years. Voter turnout is appalling low, even for major elections. Asking the unwashed masses to vote for every issue wouldn't work well. Ideally, every voter should really understand the proposal, arguments for and against, unintended consequences, cost, and other nuances, that's beyond most people.

        Some states do have direct voting due to ballot measures. For weeks leading up to the election, both supporters and detractors spam everything with ads that distort

        • Parliamentary systems don't separate the legislative and executive powers. One of the lesser-recognized problems with that is skillset. Legislative and executive positions are very different and require very different skills to succeed. American Governors who go into the Senate tend to hate it. Senators who become Presidents don't do well.

          And while they tend to be much shorter, are the parliamentary campaigns really that different? Everyone knows which member each party will put forward as PM, so th

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Tatsh ( 893946 )

            At least they have the option to get rid of someone that quickly. We have an insanely difficult process of removing anyone from office here.

            • Is that bad, or just a different set of tradeoffs? It should be hard to undo an election, and that's what removing someone from office is. In a Parliamentary system it may be different, as a PM or cabinet minister is an elected legislator appointed to an executive role by other legislators, so removing them from that role isn't undoing an election, just an appointment. The closest analog in the US is the Speaker of the House, and replacing McCarthy with Johnson didn't take as long as an impeachment.
  • They all exploit human weakness - addiction, stupidity, superstition. Doesn't matter if the bet is on a horse, the spin of a wheel or roll of dice. I think sports do suffer from it, as it harms and corrupts the sport by association.

    I'm sure betting firms would proclaim it's "harmless fun" and that they promote sports through sponsorship and advertising. In which case let's put legally enforceable limits on this "harmless fun" and ban sponsorship entirely and instead levy these industries - a 5 or 10% tax

    • I like the "promote sports through sponsorship and advertising" bit. As if nobody else would buy that airtime or signs at the stadium. Budweiser isn't promoting sports with their ads, they're selling beer. LoseYourMoneyHere.com isn't promoting sports either.

      Do you know who actually does promote sports through sponsorship and advertising? Small businesses that buy uniforms for little-league teams. Anyone else is just buying ad space on something that was already popular without them.

      I believe that

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DrXym ( 126579 )
        The point, which I thought obvious, is that gambling firms sponsor sports which leads to corruption of the sport, gambling addiction, and all the rest. Levy them instead and ban any form of advertising or sponsorship.

        And to illustrate the point here are some of the primary sponsors of UK premier league teams - Betano, BJ88, Hollywoodbets, 96.com, NET88, Stake, SBOTOP, Bally's Corporation, W88, BoyleSports, Debet. The majority of teams in the league are sponsored by gambling. Football on TV is surrounded w

  • When you can buy and sell cryotoassets and meme stocks and never lose money?!

    Seriously, how much of gambling is being eaten up because of the hype around stonks from the last few years, and the US administration pumping crypto scams?

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