Sports Betting Activities Survey

The survey queried 3,527 18- to 22-year-olds, both college students and young adults not attending college, to better understand the prevalence of various sports wagering behaviors, as well as how attitudes toward wagering are being impacted by external forces, such as advertising.

Quantitative Findings

• 58% of 18- to 22-year-olds have engaged in at least one sports betting activity.

Of students living on campus:

• 67% are bettors and tend to bet at a higher frequency.
• 63% of on-campus students recall seeing betting ads (and 58% of those students indicate they are more likely to bet after seeing the ads).
• 41% of college students who bet on sports have placed a bet on their school’s teams.
• 35% have used a student bookmaker.
• 28% choose a mobile app method for their wagering.
• 6% report that they have previously lost more than $500 on sports betting in a single day.

Qualitative Findings

• Live in-game betting is the most popular type of bet for those that use betting apps or visit in-person sportsbooks, surpassing more traditional forms of sports betting like money line or over/under.
• Of the US, the northeast has the largest portions of bettors.
• Advertisement recall is highest among those with, or pursuing, higher education.

Identified Risk Factors

• Being male.
• Self-identifying as Hispanic or Latino and Black or African American.
• Location (Northeast) in the United States.

Identified Protective Factors

• Media literacy.

Identified Challenges

• Everyone from coaches to athletics department staff and college presidents must better understand what impact sports betting may have on student-athletes.