US Sports Betting Credited for Increased Sport Consumption

According to the results of a recent poll, at least 7 out of every 10 Americans would be willing to watch more sporting activities if they could be allowed to bet on the games. If these findings are anything to go by then they are definitely a reasonable explanation for the success of the newly-minted sports betting laws in the country.

Everything started with the state of New Jersey which, in 2012, initialized a quest to have sports betting legalize so that the residents could be able to gamble at their Atlantic City casinos – this they did by suing the federal government. The goal of the lawsuit was to have the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) overturn and in May 2018, New Jersey got exactly what it wanted when the United States Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on sports betting. Since then, a number of states have gone forward to introduce sports betting legislation of their own and many more are expected to follow through with similar actions in the near future.  Among the states that already have sports betting are Pennsylvania, Nevada, West Virginia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Mississippi.

The Details of the Survey

Dubbed the Seton Hall Sports Poll, the survey which was conducted by the Stillman School of Business at the New Jersey’s Seton Hill University asked 1,000 people aged between 18 and 29 several questions about sports betting and how it was related to their interest in sports. The poll found that the of all these adults that participated in the survey 88 percent of them confirmed that they would be more attracted to watching certain sports if there was a possibility of betting on them. They also said that they would be willing to watch more live sporting events in person or on television if they would be allowed to bet on the outcome of those sports activities.

The survey also included questions about the May 14 Supreme Court ruling with 52 percent expressing their support for the move and only 28 percent of the women who participated in the survey supporting the court’s decision. Furthermore, the results of the survey also revealed that more than half of the participants felt that sports betting should include both collegiate and professional sports.

One of the issues that recorded the most division among the participants was the issue of problem gambling and gambling addiction. In this case, only 5 percent of the young adults that participated in the study believed that sports betting could lead to gambling addiction. Close to 30 percent of adult participants aged between 22 and 29, on the other hand, believed that sports gambling could lead to gambling addiction.

These results correspond with the result of an earlier poll that was conducted by the National Research Group and CBS – this is proof that the activity is beginning to be as impactful as many had hoped it would be.