Kris Johnson Deputy Editor -- CasinoBeats.com
Kris Johnson is a Charlotte-based deputy editor. He joined CasinoBeats in July 2025 and oversees the daily news flow of editing and publishing. Kris also reports on all aspects of the gambling industry with a...
Read Full BioA new study by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) examined the socio-economic impacts of legal sports betting, finding no indication of a “tidal wave of bankruptcies or consumer credit downgrades” between 2019 and 2024.
After the Professional & Amateur Sports Protection Act was overturned in 2018, allowing legal betting outside of Nevada for the first time, the US saw a widespread proliferation of online sports betting. States that were quick to adopt online wagering, including New Jersey, actually saw significant declines in bankruptcies.
The PPI stated: “We found that the early adopter states had a consumer bankruptcy decline of 40% from 2019 to 2024, compared to the 34% national decline. For example, New Jersey and West Virginia, the first two states to adopt mobile sports betting, had bankruptcy declines of 49% and 44%, respectively.”
The PPI’s study also found no evidence to suggest that credit scores were unduly affected by the rise of legal sports betting in the US.
PPI Vice President Dr. Michael Mandel, author of the DC-based think tank’s study, stated: “For all states that implemented online sports betting through 2024, we find an average 1.7% increase in FICO scores, slightly below the national average.”
The PPI’s study comes in the wake of US News & World Report‘s Sports Betting and Debt Survey, which found that “one in four bettors has missed at least one bill payment” due to gambling activity. Additionally, the survey conducted in July revealed that 16% of respondents say they “worry they can’t control their gambling.”
PPI Finds Spending on Gambling ‘Flat’ Among US Consumers
The PPI report acknowledged that the overall handle for legal sports betting rose from $920 million in 2019 to $13.7 billion in 2024. But how did spending on gambling as a share of consumer spending fare?
The PPI cited data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, revealing that “gambling accounted for 1.04% of personal consumer expenditures in 2024, compared to 1.07% in 2017.”
The PPI concluded: “We make the case that legalized sports betting serves as an economic innovation that generates positive consumer benefits and costs akin to other discretionary ‘experiential’ spending categories such as foreign vacations, live entertainment, and appearance-enhancing surgery.
“We show that it’s not uncommon for consumers to take on debt to finance outlays in these areas, yet the government does not step in to control individual behavior.”
