Sports Gambling Sees a Sharp Drop In Popularity Among Its Target Demographic

It’s not at all inaccurate to say that a significant number of white men aged 18 to 29 have dramatically soured on sports gambling to a degree not seen three years ago. This is part of the industry’s core target demo who now sees it as a pox on society at similar rates to folks aged 50 to 64. Men—men!—think sports gambling is worse for society than women do! This poll portends the heat death of the gambling industry if these trends continue indefinitely, and sports leagues and municipalities who have banked on its revenue should start thinking about how much revenue they really should be banking on, and whether providing players financial incentives to juice (or not) their own stats is worth the squeeze.

This poll is wild, but there are some expected results given the constraints that Amercian capitalism places on its subjects, like a clear trend of half of upper income people to fewer middle income people to even fewer lower income people saying it is a bad thing–but they all shifted at similar rates from 2022 to now. Black (31 percent) and Hispanic (37 percent) people disapprove of sports gambling the least, but this is America, after all, and there’s a reason I put this result in the income paragraph. Both historically marginalized and intentionally economically subjugated groups bet at higher rates than any others in this survey, for the same reason why studies show that all people of lower socioeconomic status play the lottery or buy crypto at higher rates.

The enforced desperation America imposes on its historically marginalized groups is a part of results like this, as ZIRP helped make this country a land of get-rich quick schemes that really did lift some people out of poverty. Crypto is silly and stupid and wildly corrupt, but when compared to the deal you get in a world where corporate wage theft is functionally legal, it’s hard to fault desperate people for putting more faith in DOGE or DraftKings than American capitalism. And frankly, DOGE and DraftKings give you way better odds than the lottery does.

The defenders of Malik Beasley’s right to allegedly make money for someone on his own prop bets are backed into a corner by these results, but they do have one weapon left at their disposal. How does this question break down among people who actually bet on sports and people who don’t?

While more non-sports bettors think it is a bad thing for society at 45 percent, 34 percent of sports bettors think so too, an 11 percent rise from 2022. That is a larger jump than non-sports bettors have made, who were at 36 percent disapproval in 2022. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that the reason why part of sports gambling’s target demographic is souring on sports gambling is because the effects of sports gambling on them have been really brutal.

A terrific Men’s Health survey and report in 2023 found that 61 percent of men bet on sports either daily or weekly (I’m part of that 61 percent). A disquieting 44 percent of men say it’s difficult to watch a sports game without feeling the urge to bet, nearly one in five men dedicate a quarter of their paycheck to sports betting, while a shocking 51 percent said they would be willing to wager $10,000 on a game if it meant potentially winning $1 million. It’s easy to make fun of dudebros making irrational decisions and displaying signs of addiction, but even the dudedest of bros has depth, and 58 percent of men admitted that sports betting has affected their mental health, and 56 percent of those who have or think they may have a sports betting addiction are willing to seek treatment, while 21 percent regret getting into sports betting in the first place.

In 2023, 28 percent of men said they have seriously considered quitting sports betting, and so it’s fair to question how many of those are represented in the shift to 2025 in Pew’s poll, and how many others joined them. I know my gambling activity has decreased pretty dramatically the last couple of years; it’s just not as enjoyable as it used to be for me with how it’s jammed into every nanometer of the game now. We’re watching the commodification of the purity of athletic contests in real time, and it’s hard to blame players like Jontay Porter for wetting their beak in the same fountain as leagues and municipalities, fueled primarily by the desperation and addiction of young men (although 19 percent of women gamble on sports, and they are very much represented in these shifts in the Pew poll too). Given his lifetime NBA ban, I’d bet Porter would also say that sports gambling is a bad thing for society.

Is this all not just a classic example of a customer trying a product and not liking it? This is the market speaking pretty loud and clear, that a large segment of the people this industry targets believe that this business has negatively affected their own health and wellbeing, hence why they have become convinced it’s bad for the rest of society. This Pew poll is incredibly revealing, and the trends it builds on portend big problems long-term for sports gambling. And that’s under current conditions, assuming these ongoing federal probes around players like Jontay Porter and Malik Beasley and Terry Rozier and a gambling ring betting on six NCAA schools and even Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter doesn’t keep unearthing uncomfortable truths about how these leagues sold their souls to what they have long identified to be the devil. This is unsustainable, and whether it’s young men’s affinity for gambling, their health and wellbeing, or the integrity of the game itself, it feels like something breaking is inevitable.