Despite the rise in legal online sports betting and casino options over the past decade, a new Gallup Poll suggests Americans are “significantly less likely” to gamble than 10 years ago.
According to a new poll released this week, 45% of U.S. adults reported participating in any form of gambling, including online sports betting, in the past year. That is down from 64% from 2016, and similar proportions in 2003 and 2007.
The survey was performed in June and July through telephone interviews with more than 2,200 adults in the U.S.
Most common forms decline
In both 2016 and this year, buying a state lottery ticket, gambling in-person at casinos and participating in office pools were the most common activities. All three declined in participation since a decade ago.
In 2016, 49% of adults bought a lottery ticket. That was down to 31% this year. Approximately 26% of adults said they gambled at a casino in 2016. That fell to 14% in 2026. And 15% of 2016 adults said they participated in an office pool. That dipped to 7% this year.
All other actives, such as betting on professional sports, playing a video poker machine or betting on horse racing were all under 10% in 2016 and below 7% this year. There were six categories related to sports in the survey, which did equal up to 15%.
Gambling peaks long gone
Gallup first conducted a gambling survey in 1989, but has asked about bingo since 1950. Since its first gambling poll, state lotteries have long been the most common form of gambling among U.S. adults.
However, after a decade of surveys hitting consistent majorities, lottery participation fell to the high-40s range between 2003 and 2016.
Casino gambling grew from 20% in 1989 to 30% in 2003 as more states legalized brick-and-mortar casinos. Gallup suggests the drop in recent years to 14% could be partially because of the rise of online casinos. Still, just 4% of U.S. adults said they have gambled for money on the internet.
Gallup similarly suggests the dip in office pools could be because of remote work.
Interestingly, despite the significant rise in available legal options for online sports betting, because of PASPA in 2018, fewer Americans report betting on professional and college sports than all previous versions of the survey.
All demographics down
The survey found all major subgroups of U.S. adults reported less gambling. That includes socioeconomic and age demographics.
Gallup found that Americans with a household income of more than $100,000 were the most likely to say they gamble at 54%. The next bracket, $50,000 to $99,999, clocked in at 45%. And 40% of the lowest income group, below $50,000, reported gambling in the past year.
Men were more likely to gamble than women, 49% to 40%, with older adults more likely to gamble than younger adults, 50% of those over 50 compared to 41% to those under 50.
Method of Gallup survey
Gallup did suggest its telephone interviews resulted in lower rates of gambling than a parallel web survey in June.
The web poll found that 53% of U.S. adults gambled in any form last year.
The top three web categories:
- 38% – State lottery ticket
- 19% – In-person casino
- 9% – Bet on professional sports
Gallup also noted that a recent Pew Research Center web survey found that 22% of adults have gambled on sports in the pas year.
