American adults are less likely to gamble than they were a decade ago, a new Gallup study suggests.
Key Takeaways
- Forty-five percent of respondents said they had gambled within the last year, down from 64% in 2016.
- Lottery participants experienced the largest decline, dropping from 49% to 31%.
- Sports betting participation (7%) is the same as it was in 2007 despite the widespread expansion of legal sports betting since 2018.
That’s according to combined June and July polls involving more than 2,200 U.S. adults interviewed by phone, along with a separate online survey using the same gambling questions.
Forty-five percent of respondents indicated they had participated in at least one form of gambling over the last year, down from 64% 10 years ago.
Lottery participation declined by the largest margin, dropping 18 percentage points from 49% to 31%. In-person casino gambling also experienced a 12-percentage-point decline, from 26% to 14%.
Internet gambling was the only form measured that did not decline over time, with 4% of adults saying they had gambled online for money. Sports contests (4%) and non-athletic prediction market events (2%) were also measured, but Gallup did not have comparable data from 10 years ago.
Gallup found that 7% of Americans had bet on professional sports in the past year, down from 10% in 2016, while college sports betting fell from 5% to 4%.
Enjoying Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account
Sports betting and shifting morality
The gambling boom has created an arms race among U.S. sports betting companies, and recently, prediction market sites. But despite that, Gallup also found that gambling's perceived acceptability has declined, with 57% of Americans now calling it morally acceptable, down from 67% in 2016.
Sports betting participation in professional events (7%) is the same as it was in 2007. It is also half of what it was in 1989 (14%), the first year Gallup tracked professional sports betting.
An increasingly online world dealt a major blow to land-based casinos. After peaking at 30% in 2003, in-person casino gambling is down to 14% in 2026. Meanwhile, internet gambling has increased from 1% to 4% over that period.
Demographics played a strong role in determining an individual’s gambling habits and attitudes. Fifty-four percent of respondents with a household income exceeding $100,000 said they have gambled, compared to 45% of those who earned $50,000-$99,999. Forty-nine percent of men said they had gambled, compared with 40% of women. Fifty percent of adults 50 and older said they had gambled, compared with 41% of those under 50.
Americans are significantly less likely than they were 10 years ago to say they participate in a variety of gambling activities.
— Gallup (@Gallup) August 19, 2026
The sharpest drops are in the three most common activities: buying a state lottery ticket, gambling in person at a casino and participating in an… pic.twitter.com/H6B5TESrEu
Demographics, stigma, and problem gambling
Most betting companies preach responsible gambling. According to the survey, only 3% of adults and 7% of gamblers said they sometimes risked more than they should’ve. Despite that, 9% said gambling had caused problems in their family, with that figure rising to 13% among lower-income adults.
Overall, Gallup's findings suggest that fewer Americans are participating in gambling, even as the industry continues to generate more revenue. The polling firm cautioned that some of the decline could reflect Americans becoming less comfortable acknowledging that they gamble.
Gallup's separate web survey produced a higher gambling rate, with 53% of respondents saying they had gambled in the past year compared with 45% in the telephone survey, a difference Gallup said may partly reflect respondents being less willing to disclose gambling to a live interviewer.
