Most American voters in favor of legalizing sports betting

The study from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind Poll organisation revealed that 60 % of men support legalised sportsbetting compared with 43 % of women while the overall rate is up from 39 % as found by a similar poll conducted in March of 2010.

The research from the New Jersey liberal arts institution discovered that one on five American males acknowledged betting on sports. Only 33 percent of national registered voters were completely opposed to legalised sportsbetting with a further eleven percent classing themselves as unsure.
“These national figures are similar to what we’ve seen in our recent polls of New Jersey voters,” said Krista Jenkins, Director for Public Mind and a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

“New Jersey is moving forward with its plans for sportsbetting in early 2013 despite federal lawsuits by the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and others to block it.”

The Fairleigh Dickinson University research found that only those over the age of 60 are more likely to oppose the expansion of sportsbetting than support it while the 40 percent in favour is still larger than the 27 percent among the same group two years ago.

In addition, 80 % of those who had bet on sports recently stated that they would favour the expansion of sportsbetting although only 27 % of those polled approved of permitting states to run online gambling, which is up from 21 percent in 2010.

“It’s a real crap shoot,” said Jenkins. “On one side are economic benefits to a state yet on the other is the concern that online gaming will make it too easy for individuals to get caught up in gambling.”