New poll shows that 69 percent of Americans now find gambling morally acceptable

Sixty-nine percent of Americans say gambling is morally acceptable, a four-percentage-point increase from last year and the highest level of acceptance in the last 16 years, according to the latest Gallup poll, conducted between May 1-10, 2018, with a random sample of 1,024 adults, aged 18 and older, living across the United States.

Previously, the lowest level of acceptance on the question – one of a battery of questions about social issues included in Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs Social Series since 2003 – was 58 percent in 2009.

The respected polling company says that Americans’ increasing willingness to see gambling as an acceptable behaviour fits into a larger pattern of the nation becoming more liberal on social issues.

However, Gallup notes that the growth in the percentage of Americans who find gambling acceptable has been nowhere near as large as for some other prominent social issues on which attitudes have changed by 20 points or more.

Gay and lesbian relations, legalisation of marijuana and babies being born outside of marriage all were morally unacceptable to half or more of Americans at some point since 2000, but now have solid majority support.

On the issue of gambling, majorities have said it was acceptable every time the current version of the question was asked since 2003 and in earlier versions of the question asked in 1992 and 1993.

Combining polling results from the past three years shows how Americans differ on the moral acceptability of gambling by religion, race, ethnicity, education, income and other key sub-groupings.

Results from the three polls show that Americans differ most strongly by religiosity, with only 48 percent of those who attend religious services at least weekly saying gambling is acceptable, compared with 63 percent of those attending nearly weekly or monthly, and 78 percent who attend seldom or not at all. Many of the nation’s largest religious denominations have historically been strongly opposed to gambling.

Income and education differences also are related to views on gambling. The higher the income status and the higher the educational level, the more likely Americans are to find gambling morally acceptable.

A previous study of how different religious groups answered the question from 2001-2016 found that Mormons were, by a large margin, least likely to find gambling acceptable. Eight in 10 of those with no religious preference and of Jews, and three-quarters of Catholics, believed gambling is OK morally. Among Protestants, who make up the largest religious group in the U.S., a slight majority said it is acceptable.

Fifty years ago, only one state – Nevada – had casinos. Only two – New Hampshire and New York – had lotteries. Now, all but a handful of states have both, and with the addition of online gambling, the industry’s overall net worth has been valued at $240 billion.

Gambling appears poised for another growth spurt, with many states looking to formally allow betting on sporting events following the recent US Supreme Court decision which struck down the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.

While previous generations of Americans may never have been exposed to legal betting unless they travelled to Las Vegas, today most adults can place a legal bet by as simple and mundane an act as buying a $1 lottery ticket at the neighbourhood convenience store. As more and more ways to gamble have become readily available, Americans – never overwhelmingly opposed to the concept of legal gambling – have gradually solidified their support for the practice, though a sizable minority still sees it as wrong.

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