Betting On Sports

So a poll of our readers finds that betting on sports is now the #1 hobby of 18-25 y/o males and increasingly popular with females. 27% of females say they regularly bet on sports, up from just 11% in our 2022 poll of the same 4,250 person group. Males still lead, with 59% of 6,112 saying they bet regularly, up from 38%. The broader question is a public health one - as the betting leads to losing which tends to accompany desperate decisions and dependance on substances and alcohol to mitigate the spiral. A large number of companies have formed to help provide “sports betting education” and an entire industry of treatment programs for chronic sports betting is also forming. The entire phenomenon is not surprising, particularly when it’s all you see and hear before the big game or any game for that matter. What is surprising is how little public attention there is to this budding epidemic. One of the interesting findings from our poll in 2022 and again this year is just how many of the regular betters - what I defined as at least weekly betting - are former high school athletes who used to play sports for the rush, now they don’t have that daily outlet….so they wager on other people’s games.