New Washington Post-University of Massachusetts Lowell poll results released
The Washington Post reports that it has collaborated with the University of Massachusetts Lowell on a poll to assess public opinion on the wider legalisation of US sports betting.
The poll was conducted across all demographics in a 1,000 person sample, and concluded that for the first time most Americans support making wagering on professional sports legal, with a 55-percent majority approving…that’s a reversal of the situation in 1992, when the restrictive federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act went into effect and 56 percent of Americans disapproved of legalisation in a Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll.
According to the new poll, the increase in support is broad-based and cuts across most demographics, with support among men and women, young and old and those from lower- and higher-income households.
The American Gaming Association has been vigorously campaigning for a more liberalised sports betting dispensation, and is scheduled to hold a briefing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, with the aim of persuading lawmakers to reconsider PASPA.
“As our industry expanded, we confronted a lot of fears, a lot of concerns, and what time has shown is that those fears and concerns were often misplaced,” said Geoff Freeman, the president and CEO of the American Gaming Association.
The Post-UMass Lowell poll found that just more than 1 in 5 sports fans (21 percent) have bet on professional sporting events in the past five years, and they’re more likely to be avid sports fans, men, pro football fans, nonwhites, and under 40 years old.
Support for legalisation is highest among the those who’ve placed a sports bet in the past five years (84 percent), and is nearly as high among fans who have played in a fantasy sports league (79 percent), avid sports fans (70 percent), men (63 percent), people with household incomes of $100,000 or more (61 percent) and pro football fans (60 percent).
There’s little partisan difference on the issue, with 52 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of Democrats in support of legalising sports gambling.
Opposition to sports gambling appears to be fading with older generations, too. In 1993, 29 percent of Americans ages 50 and older supported legalising sports gambling, as did 48 percent of adults below that age.
Today, 46 percent of those over age 50 support legalisation, rising to 62 percent of people ages 18 to 49, the Washington Post reports..
The Post’s poll has to some extent confirmed the findings of an earlier Farleigh Dickinson University poll, which found a similar reversal in public opinion. In 2010 a 53 percent majority of Americans respondents were opposed to sports betting in all states, with 39 percent in favour of it. By 2016, 48 percent approved of legalisation vs. 39 percent against.
The increased acceptability of sports wagering is down to three main factors, Freeman told the Washington Post: the rise of the internet, the prevalence of casinos across the country and the popularity of fantasy sports, where there is an overlap with sports betting and sports punters.
Referring to fantasy sports, Freeman concluded:
“It begs a lot of questions for people. I heard it from owners in sports, I heard it from fans, I heard it across the board: What’s the difference between this and betting on sports? The simple answer is, there isn’t a big one.”