Surveys these days are giving us a pretty vivid look into who’s actually using sports betting apps, how often they’re doing it and what it’s doing to their bank accounts.
Sports betting isn’t what it used to be. It’s not about waiting in line at a casino or calling some guy anymore. Now, millions of people just open an app while lounging on their couch, maybe halfway through a game. The boom in sports betting apps has totally changed the way people gamble, and now, surveys are starting to show us what that shift looks like up close.
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Who’s really using these apps?
Short answer: A lot of people, and that number is climbing fast. A NerdWallet survey found 1 in 5 Americans, that’s 20%, placed a sports bet in the past year. Go back to December 2023, and it was just 12%. That’s a jump of about 67% in just two years.
But dig deeper and things get a bit more interesting. Gender makes a big difference. In a 2025 YouGov survey, 72% of U.S. sports bettors were men. This lines up with global data too: About 70% of sports bettors worldwide are men, though women are joining in more, now up to around 30%, according to BetZillion.
Problem gambling isn’t invisible in the data
You can’t really talk about sports betting app surveys without touching on problem gambling. The signs keep popping up. A 2025 Siena Research Institute survey found that 52% of online sports bettors said they’d “chased” a bet. That means they kept betting higher to recoup losses. Chasing is a well-known warning sign for gambling problems.
Back in mid-2025, Pew Research found 43% of U.S. adults believe legal sports betting hurts society, up from 34% in 2022. That skepticism is growing right along with the apps themselves.
Responsible gambling sites, like Betway, try to tackle this head-on: Once you go through the Betway download, you will find an upp offering deposit limits, self-exclusion and access to support. Those safety features are getting a lot more attention these days, as regulators and the public demand more accountability from the industry.
How often are people placing bets?
This one stands out: Frequency. For a lot of users, betting isn’t just occasional, it’s almost daily. One survey by Siena Research Institute found 54% of online sports bettors placed bets at least once or twice a week in 2025.
That kind of routine is no accident, apps make it ridiculously easy. In 2024, 87% of online sports betting turnover came from mobile devices. With features like instant logins, custom dashboards and live odds, betting can feel like no big deal. Three taps and you’re in. It stops feeling like a real decision.
What are people spending?
Here’s where it gets heavy. On average, people spent $3,284 on sports betting and other gambling in just a year, according to NerdWallet. That’s not exactly pocket change.
But a lot of bettors don’t seem to treat it as risky. NerdWallet found that 31% think of gambling as an investment. Meanwhile, 14% have gone into debt over it. That’s a pretty big gap between how people think about their betting and what’s really happening.
A U.S. News survey from July 2025 took a closer look. Nearly a third of bettors, that’s 30%, say they’ve got debts tied to gambling. More than half of them owe $500 or more. People still call it a casual hobby, but those numbers suggest it’s not so simple.
What do bettors want from the apps?
Surveys aren’t just about behavior, they also ask what people want from these platforms. One Conjointly survey asked over 700 U.S. adults what matters most: Things like app speed, navigation and live betting features top the list.
App makers feel that pressure. The latest apps are sleeker, faster and loaded with things like fingerprint logins, personalized dashboards and rapid odds updates.
The numbers just keep going up
Step back, and the growth is hard to ignore. By early 2026, 27% of Americans said they have an active online sports betting account, and a third have had an account at some point, according to Yogonet. That’s a huge portion of adults walking around with a betting app on their phone.
EMARKETER expects the number of U.S. online bettors to soar past 50 million in 2026. The market grew up fast, tech kept pace and now the surveys are catching up, showing what it means for users on financial, behavioral and psychological levels.
The bottom line of these surveys
All these surveys paint a clear picture: The market’s exploded, it’s mostly young men, the stakes are higher than you might think and a lot of users are already facing real risks. With heavy betting, chasing losses and rising debt, sports betting for a big group has gone well beyond just entertainment.