Poll: 80% of Americans Now in Favor of Sports Betting Legalization

Americans have flip flopped on how much they embrace legal sports betting.

In February 2017, results of a Seton Hall Sports Poll revealed that only 46% of Americans believed betting on sports should be legalized. Some 32 months later, the latest version of the poll published Thursday reveals that 80% are in favor of sports betting legalization.

“Public acceptance of legalized betting in sports is moving at a rapid pace, likely tied to court approval,” said Rick Gentile, director of the poll, in a statement.

A Supreme Court reversal of elements of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 paved the way for states to be able to make their own decisions with regards to sports gambling.

The poll, which was conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, showed that 55% of the public was in favor of the current system that allows states to make that choice, while 25% said it should be legal in all states.

The younger population was much more in favor of a federal legalization of sports betting. In the poll, 37% of 18- to 29-year-olds were in favor of federal legalization of sports gambling, while only 14% of people who were at least 60 said they would prefer it to be legal nationwide.

The poll — which was done by telephone of 714 adult Americans representative of the U.S. Population and has a 3.8 percent margin of error — conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.