Forty-five percent of American adults say they gambled in at least one of 13 forms over the past year, down from 64% a decade ago, according to a Gallup survey released this week. That is well below every prior reading in a trend Gallup began in 1989.
The number arrives after eight years in which legal sports betting expanded across most of the country and industry revenue climbed to record levels. Neither thing is simple, and the survey is candid that it cannot resolve the tension.
For anyone worried about a family member's gambling, the useful reading is not the headline. It is what the survey measures, what it misses, and what it says about harm.
Inside the Categories That Actually Fell
The decline is concentrated in older, offline forms of gambling rather than in the products that have drawn the most attention.
State lottery participation fell from 49% in 2016 to 31%, the single largest contributor to the overall drop. In-person casino gambling went from 26% to 14%, having peaked at 30% in 2003. Office pools on events like the Super Bowl fell from 15% to 7%. Horse racing dropped from 6% to 2%. Video poker, which reached 20% in 1999, now sits at 5%.
Betting on professional sports moved far less. Seven percent of adults reported it, down from 10% in 2016 and identical to the 2007 reading, despite the 2018 Supreme Court decision that opened the door to state-authorized sportsbooks. College sports betting slipped from 5% to 4%.
Internet gambling for money is the only category that did not decline, rising from 3% to 4%. Gallup suggests the shift online may partly explain the fall in casino visits, and that remote work may explain the collapse of the office pool.
Two categories appear for the first time this year: paid fantasy sports, reported by 4% of adults, and bets on non-athletic events in online prediction markets, reported by 2%.
The survey also recorded a shift in attitude. The share of Americans calling gambling morally acceptable fell from 67% in 2016 to a new low of 57%. Gallup notes that "these lower reported gambling rates coincide with a decline" in that measure, which raises the possibility that the organization names directly.
A Gap Between Phone and Online Answers
Gallup ran a parallel web survey alongside its telephone poll, and the two disagree in a way that matters.
The phone survey found an overall participation rate of 45%. The web survey found 53%. For sports wagering, the gap widened further, with 15% by phone against 21% online. Differences also appeared for bingo, lottery play, and office pools.
Gallup's explanation is that people may be less willing to tell a live interviewer they gamble than to say so privately on a screen. If that is right, some of the measured decline reflects a changing willingness to admit to gambling rather than a change in behavior, particularly alongside the drop in moral acceptability.
An independent check points the same way. A Pew Research Center web survey found 22% of US adults had gambled on sports in the past year, nearly identical to Gallup's own web estimate of 21% and well above its phone estimate.
None of this makes the Gallup figure wrong. It makes it a single estimate produced by a single method, and readers should treat the range across modes as the honest picture rather than picking the number that fits a prior view. Gallup also notes that its web estimates still sit below past phone readings, which lends some support to a real decline. MedicalDaily has written about a similar gap between a statistic and its meaning in federal drug pricing data.
Harm Measures Sit Separately From Participation
Participation and harm are different questions, and this is where the survey is most relevant to health.
Three percent of all adults, and 7% of those who gamble, told Gallup they sometimes gamble more than they think they should. Those shares were 7% and 10% in 2016. On the web survey, where disclosure appears easier, the figures were 6% and 10%.
Nine percent said gambling had been a source of problems in their family, rising to 13% among lower-income adults against 7% to 8% among middle- and upper-income adults. That measure has ticked up from the 4% to 5% range Gallup recorded between 1989 and 1996.
That last figure deserves attention. It describes roughly one in eleven households reporting family harm from gambling, in a survey where fewer than half of adults report gambling at all. Harm is not distributed in proportion to participation.
Gallup itself offers the explanation for why revenue can rise while participation falls: a smaller group may be gambling more often or paying more to gamble, and more wagering now moves through formal, government-sanctioned channels that are easier to measure than informal ones.
The survey does not measure spending, frequency, or losses. It cannot confirm that concentration is occurring, nor can it rule it out. Anyone citing the participation decline as evidence that gambling harm is easing is going beyond what this data supports, and anyone citing rising revenue as proof of a spreading epidemic is doing the same in the other direction.
Where to Find Help and What the Numbers Cannot Tell You
If someone in your household is gambling in a way that worries you, national participation rates are not the relevant information. The behaviors that matter are specific and observable.
Chasing losses with larger bets, borrowing or selling things to keep gambling, hiding the extent of betting from family, gambling to escape stress or low mood, and irritability when trying to cut back are the patterns clinicians look for. Financial secrecy and unexplained shortfalls often surface before anyone names the problem.
The National Council on Problem Gambling operates a confidential national helpline available around the clock by phone, text, and chat, and maintains state-by-state directories of treatment providers. Many states fund treatment specifically, and most sportsbooks and casinos offer self-exclusion programs that block account access for a set period.
Gambling disorder is a recognized diagnosis with established treatment, including cognitive behavioral therapy and peer support, and no medication is FDA-approved for it. Someone concerned about their own gambling should raise it with a primary care clinician, who can screen and refer.
What remains unknown is whether spending is concentrating among fewer people, how much of the reported decline is genuine behavior change versus reluctance to disclose, and how prediction markets will be counted in future surveys. Gallup conducts this survey periodically, and the next round is the earliest point at which the trend can be tested.
Key Questions Answered
What did the survey find? Forty-five percent of US adults reported gambling in at least one of 13 forms over the past year, down from 64% in 2016 and similar levels in 2003 and 2007.
Which activities declined the most? State lottery play fell from 49% to 31%, in-person casino gambling from 26% to 14%, and office pools from 15% to 7%. Internet gambling was the only category that did not decline.
Did sports betting fall too? Professional sports betting was 7%, down from 10% in 2016 and equal to 2007, despite the expansion of legal sportsbooks since 2018.
Why is revenue rising if participation is falling? Gallup suggests a smaller group may be gambling more often or paying more, and that more wagering now runs through channels that are easier to measure. The survey does not measure spending, so it cannot confirm this.
How reliable is the 45% figure? It is one estimate from a telephone survey of 2,201 adults. Gallup's parallel online survey of 2,043 panel members found that 53% of respondents underreport to live interviewers.
What did it find about harm? Three percent of adults and 7% of gamblers said they sometimes gamble more than they should. Nine percent said gambling caused problems in their family, rising to 13% among lower-income adults.
Where can someone get help? The National Council on Problem Gambling runs a confidential national helpline by phone, text, and chat, with treatment directories by state. A primary care clinician can also screen and refer.
