American Anti-Gambling Sentiment Is Highest Among the Demographics Least Impacted By It

Public perception of sports betting has soured in the US over the last three years, but new data shows that negative sentiment isn’t coming from the groups most at risk for gambling harm. Pew Research, which conducted the survey in question, has focused on the trend that more Americans than ever before are saying that sports betting has a negative impact on society. However, the survey’s demographic breakdown shows that anti-gambling opinion is highest among groups such as college-educated, older white men, and lowest among the marginalized groups where the social consequences of gambling are most visible.

Pew Research surveyed about 6,000 Americans in 2022 and nearly 10,000 in 2025 to study the evolution of participation in and attitudes toward sports betting over time. Across all groups, the view that gambling is detrimental to society increased. Despite the backlash, participation in sports betting also grew across essentially all groups. (There may have been a decline among those over 50, but Pew changed its age bands between the two surveys, making it impossible to say for sure without access to individual responses.)

Sports betting first became legal outside of Nevada in 2018 and quickly swept the nation. Today, some form of legal sports betting (retail or online) is available in 38 states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico. Nearly $560 billion in bets have been placed in those seven years since the federal prohibition on betting fell. Inevitably, the novelty of expanded gambling options produces a sharp uptick in problem gambling rates. Although that acute effect is expected to subside and shows signs of doing so, a public reaction to the rise in gambling problems is also to be expected.

And yet, that reaction hasn’t happened evenly across the board.

Marginalized Groups Appear More Tolerant of Gambling

On the one hand, it’s not surprising that people who don’t gamble think more negatively of gambling. After all, that negative perception is itself a deterrent to gambling. Ignoring demographics, Americans who don’t gamble were 45% likely in 2025 to say it’s bad for society, compared to 34% of those who do. That’s up 11 points for gamblers and 9 points for non-gamblers since 2022.

However, PokerScout has adjusted for that effect by comparing each demographic’s measured response rate to a projection using its participation rate and the statistics for gamblers and non-gamblers. What we see is that even non-gamblers in the age and racial demographics that gamble most heavily are less likely to see it as harmful. That part is surprising, in that the social costs of gambling are presumably more visible on a regular basis within those peer groups.

In particular, only Black respondents were just 31% likely to say gambling is bad for society. Even correcting for a gambling rate 8 points higher than the national average, that negative opinion rate is 10 percentage points lower than the norm. Conversely, White and Asian respondents were less likely to gamble, and almost half said it was harmful.

Additionally, the immediate economic impact of a gambling problem is most visible among lower-income groups and those with worse employment prospects. Yet the lower-income and non-college-educated groups were also less inclined to call gambling harmful to society.

Equally surprising is the main exception to this trend. Women were less likely to express a negative opinion about gambling. Men, despite being the target demographic for most sportsbooks, were more critical of the industry’s impact.

Racial and Income Demographics — Participation and Perception

The table below shows the gambling rate for each racial and income demographic considered by the survey, along with a comparison of the real and expected rate of negative views on gambling.

Age and Political Affiliation Matter Less Than in 2022

A second interesting trend emerges in the data when considering the change since 2022. Although all demographics are now more likely to say gambling is harmful than they were three years ago, the increase isn’t the same across the board.

In some categories, we see somewhat greater polarization than before. For instance, the difference of opinion between men and women is stronger now than in 2022. The same is true of the difference between those with a college degree and those without. Among the racial demographics, white respondents showed the greatest increase in negative sentiment.

However, on two important fronts, the differences of opinion have all but vanished.

In 2022, Democrats were much more likely to turn a blind eye to the downsides of gambling than their Republican peers. That may still be the case among politicians, but the difference among their supporters appears to have vanished. In three years, Democrat-supporting respondents went from a 31% negative opinion rate to 43%. Republican supporters had been much more opposed to begin with, at 38%. However, that rate only rose by five points to 43% as well, erasing the difference between the two, at least as far as this issue goes.

And even more remarkable homogenization took place with the age demographics. Young adults aged 18-29 were the most tolerant age demographic in 2022, comparable in their responses to the Black racial demographic. However, they saw an 18-point increase over three years, higher than any other group across all categories. Conversely, seniors 65+ only increased their negative opinion rate by 4 points.

Now, the 30-39 cohort is the most tolerant of gambling, but the spread between them and seniors is only 10 points, creating a difference of opinion that’s less than half as wide as it was in 2022.

Age and Political Demographics — Change in Opinion Since 2022

The table below shows the rate at which the age and political affiliation demographics agreed with the statement that gambling is harmful to society. Response rates for 2022 and 2025 are shown, along with the percentage point change over those three years.