A customer at a sports bar near Boston’s Fenway Park looks at the mobile betting app on his phone after placing a wager while a men’s college basketball game is showing in March 2023. (Charles Krupa/AP File)
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.
Growing shares of Americans view legal sports betting as bad for society and sports % of U.S. adults who say the fact that betting on sports is now legal in much of the country is __ for society/sports Note: Those who did not give an answer are not shown.
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted July 8-Aug. 3, 2025. PEW RESEARCH CENTER Share this chart Share on X Share on Facebook Growing shares of Americans view legal sports betting as bad for society and sports % of U.S. adults who say the fact that betting on sports is now legal in much of the country is __ for society/sports For society (July 2022) For society (July 2025) For sports (July 2022) For sports (July 2025) A bad thing 34% 43% 33% 40% A good thing 8% 7% 16% 17% Neither good nor bad 57% 50% 49% 42% Download data as .csv Note: Those who did not give an answer are not shown.
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted July 8-Aug. 3, 2025. PEW RESEARCH CENTER Chart Data Share
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.
About this research This Pew Research Center analysis examines recent changes in Americans’ awareness of, attitudes about and personal experiences with sports betting. It comes as more states legalize the practice. Why did we do this? The Center conducts high-quality research to inform the public, journalists and decision-makers. Studying the public’s views of and experiences with sports betting is part of our long-standing research on social trends, technology and related topics. Learn more about Pew Research Center. How did we do this? This analysis is based on findings from a survey of 9,916 U.S. adults who are part of the Center’s American Trends Panel. The survey was conducted from July 8 to Aug. 3, 2025. The survey’s overall margin of error is plus or minus 1.3 percentage points. Here are the questions used for this analysis, the topline and the survey methodology.
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:
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