Majority of Americans say yes to online sports betting

More Americans are positive towards the legalization of online sports betting, especially if taxes from sportsbook operators would go to public service areas, according to our February 2020 poll.

At United Gamblers, we are always up to date with the latest within the online gambling and sports betting legislation. But we're also committed to investigating the subject on our own.

With a growing number of states having legislative proposals on the table, we thought it would be interesting to gauge the feeling among the American public in regards to its relationship and attitude towards online gambling and sports betting.

In February of 2020, we conducted a poll via one of the largest marketing research companies in the United States, Pollfish.

Out of the 500 respondents, only 78 (15.6%) were directly against online the legalization of online sports betting, while 236 (47.20%) were directly for the legalization. 186 (37.2%) remained undecided or did not choose any of the options.

The respondents that replied “no” or “undecided” were asked a follow-up question; if they would be in favor of the legalization if taxes from online sports betting would be spent on public services. The result can be seen below.

Out of the 78 respondents that were directly against the legalization, 13 (16.67%) changed their minds to be for legalization, while 36 (46.15%) changed their “no” to a “maybe”. 29 (37.18%) respondents remained against it.

Out of the 175 respondents that were undecided, 70 (40%) changed their minds to be in favor, while 7 (4%) would not be in favor still. 98 respondents (56%) answered “maybe”.

Clear majority for if the public would benefit

When summarizing the result of both questions, a total of 319 (63.8%) respondents would be in favor if the public would benefit from online sports betting - this is assuming those in favor of the first question, do not mind taxes going to public service areas.

134 (26.8%) respondents were still undecided, replying "maybe" to the question.

Only 36 (7.2%) would be directly against the legalization.

The remaining 11 (2.2%) replied "none of the above" to the first question.

Online gambling and online sports betting has been much talked about and debated in the media for some time and is now part of the public discourse.

To see that over 90% of the American population would be pro-legal online sports betting (under certain conditions) is very interesting. We would have assumed the number to be lower.

Seemingly, using tax money for public benefits is something that resonates with the American people. This might be something for politicians campaigning for online gambling to consider.

The survey was conducted on February 12, 2020, using Pollfish.

• The number of respondents was 500.
• 100% were Americans between 21-65 years old.
• 57% were female and 43% were male.

Any questions about this survey? Please send an email to info@leadstarmedia.com.