- December 18, 2025
- By Rachael Grahame ’17
Americans increasingly take a negative stance on sports betting, according to the latest Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. More than one-third (36%) of Americans who participated said that the rising number of states allowing sports betting “is a bad thing,” up from the less than one-quarter (23%) of Americans who had said the same thing in a 2022 poll.
“More attention-grabbing is that the increase is fueled by the most engaged fans—the increase was 22 points among those who watch sports several times a week and 17 points among sports bettors,” said Mike Hanmer, director of UMD’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE). “This might well sound alarms for the leagues and sports media companies alike.”
However, 14% of adults said that people’s ability to place bets on sporting events was “a good thing,” compared with the 23% who said the same in 2022. Forty-nine percent in 2025 provided a neutral response.
The CDCE conducted the poll Dec. 4-7 with The Post and UMD’s Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism via online and phone interviews with 1,032 American adults through the SSRS Opinion Panel.
Fewer than one in five (19%) respondents said that sports betting made the sport “more interesting,” but that jumped to 51% among respondents who placed a sports bet in the last year. The poll also found that while 56% are confident that professional sports games are played competitively and without the influence of gambling, 44% are not.
“Sports betting scandals haven't eroded trust in sports in ways that are evident in TV ratings or attendance,” said Mark Hyman, director of the Povich Center. “But these poll results raise questions. When only a slim majority say they are very confident now about the outcomes, what might be the impact of game-fixing incidents in the future?”
When asked about how concerned they were about addiction to sports gambling, games being rigged and the potential for children to gamble, 70%, 66% and 64%, respectively, said they were either very or somewhat concerned. Concern in each of these areas did not increase, however, when compared to the 2022 poll.