Majority of US adults support legalization of sports betting

A new poll revealed that a majority of United States adults are in favor of a legal sports betting market.

A new national survey conducted by the Washington Post in conjunction with the University of Massachusetts Lowell revealed that 55 percent of adults in the United States are in favor of legal sports betting, whilst 33 percent of the people that participated in that poll said that they’re against it.

As the Post said, this is the first time that the poll indicates a majority in support of legal wagering, even though a 2014 Seton Hall University survey revealed similar results as 55 percent also claimed that they were in favor of legal sports betting. However, 46 percent of the people interviewed said more recently that they were in favor, which means that the percentage lowered almost ten percent in three years.

This new poll surveyed 1k adults over the week of August 14-21 and asked people whether they were involved in professional sports wager in the past five years. The answers indicated that 21 percent of sports fans said that they did, whilst betting participation also increased 35 percent among them.

The survey also showed that betting is more popular among people under 40 years old when compared to the 40-64 demographic, which decreases to 18 percent. Moreover, men are more likely to bet with a 26 percent, up from the 15 percent reported among women.

Earlier this week, the American Gaming Association (AGA) called for the National Indian Gaming Association’s (NIGA) support in order to make the final push to repeal the federal ban on sports betting as they want states to have the possibility to authorise the modality. The AGA is strongly supporting New Jersey’s case and has joined forces with NIGA and several other groups and created the American Sports Betting Coalition. The group aims to advocate for parties pushing for the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) to get overturned. Said law is the one that makes sports betting only legal in Nevada, NFL parlay sports betting in Delaware, and game square wagering in Montana.