What Americans think about legal sports betting, according to recent polls

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WASHINGTON (AP) — As legalized sports betting expands, recent polling suggests that Americans have become increasingly critical of its role in U.S. society and sports — although they’re more tolerant of it for professional sports.

Betting scandals have multiplied since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May 2018 struck down a federal law that barred sports betting in most states. That includes a wave of incidents involving athletes and officials. Most recently, dozens of people, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, were arrested in connection with a federal investigation into sports betting and illegal gambling, authorities said Thursday.

In the years since the Supreme Court’s ruling, sports betting has brought revenue to state governments, but it’s also prompted concerns about the potential for wrongdoing, as well as the impact on athletes.

Here’s what Americans think about the impact of legal sports betting, according to recent polling:

Americans are more skeptical of legal sports betting than they were a few years ago, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted over the summer. The survey found that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults say the fact that sports betting is now legal in much of the country is “a bad thing” for society and sports, up from about one-third in July 2022.

Many Americans continue to say sports betting is “neither a good nor bad” thing for sports and society, while few say it's “a good thing” for either.

Young men are particularly likely to have soured on sports betting’s social impact. About half of men under age 30 now say legal sports betting is a bad thing for society, up from 22% in 2022.

At the same time, young men are more likely than older adults to say they’ve bet money on sports in the past year. But 34% of people who have placed a sports bet in the past year still say legal sports betting is bad for society, up from 23% three years ago.

Many Americans distinguish between betting on professional and college sports, according to an AP-NORC poll from February.

That survey shows that about 6 in 10 Americans think gambling on professional sports should be legal in their state, but only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults say the same thing about legalized wagering on college sports. More than half oppose legal betting on college sports.

A Quinnipiac poll from June found, similarly, that 60% of U.S. adults think legal betting on college sports is a bad thing, while 47% say this about legal betting on professional sports.

The Pew poll shows that awareness of sports betting has grown over the past few years – 63% say they’ve heard or read “a lot” or “a little” about the fact that sports betting is now broadly legal, up from 56% in 2022. But that hasn’t led to an uptick in support for legalization. Americans are about as likely to say betting on professional or college sports should be legal as they were in 2019, according to the AP-NORC survey.

Younger adults are more likely than older adults to have bet money on sports in the past year, according to the Pew poll, with about 3 in 10 adults under age 30 saying this, compared with only 12% of adults age 65 or older.

Black and Hispanic adults are also more likely than white or Asian adults to have placed a bet, although the gap isn’t as wide.

The AP-NORC poll found that while about 14% of U.S. adults say they “frequently” or “occasionally” place bets on college or professional sports online using betting or fantasy sports websites or apps, it’s more common in casinos. About one-quarter of U.S. adults say they have bet on sports in person at casinos at least “occasionally.”

Billups and Rozier were arrested along with more than 30 other people in two criminal cases alleging sprawling schemes to rake in millions of dollars by rigging sports bets and poker games involving Mafia families, authorities said.

Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, accused the FBI of aiming for “misplaced glory” by embarrassing the professional athlete with a perp walk, rather than allowing him to self-surrender. He previously told ESPN that Rozier met with NBA and FBI officials in 2023 and was told that an initial investigation determined he did nothing wrong, the sports network reported.

A message seeking comment was left Thursday morning with Billups.