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Gambling in the United States: Statistics & Trends (2026)

The United States is the largest gambling market on earth in absolute terms. In 2025, the country's commercial casinos, sportsbooks and online operators kept a record $78.72 billion in gross gaming revenue — money lost by players — up 9.2% on the prior year and the fifth straight record (American Gaming Association). Add the record $43.9 billion from tribal casinos (FY2024) and the more than $113 billion Americans put through state lotteries, and total US gambling losses run well past $155 billion a year — more than any other nation, even though Americans lose less per adult than Australians or Singaporeans.

This page is a full statistical profile of US gambling: how much Americans lose and on what, who gambles, the post-PASPA sports-betting explosion, the Gen Z surge, online versus land-based, the offshore crypto shadow market, which states bet the most, problem-gambling harm, and documented stories of catastrophic individual losses. Primary sources are the American Gaming Association (AGA), the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), Pew Research Center, the U.S. Census Bureau and H2 Gambling Capital. Every figure is dated to its source year.

$78.72B
2025 commercial losses (GGR), a fifth straight record — AGA
$43.9B
Record tribal gaming revenue, FY2024 — NIGC
$166.9B
2025 legal sports-betting handle, up 11% — AGA
~57%
of US adults gambled in the past year — AGA
$18.1B
Record gaming taxes paid in 2025, up 15.1% — AGA
~2M
US adults with severe gambling disorder — NCPG

Key takeaways

  • $78.72 billion — US commercial gaming gross revenue (player losses) in 2025, up 9.2% and a fifth consecutive record — AGA.
  • $43.9 billion — record tribal gaming revenue (FY2024), bringing regulated commercial + tribal losses to roughly $123 billion — NIGC.
  • ~57% of US adults gambled in the past year; about 1 in 5 (21–22%) placed a sports bet — AGA, Pew Research.
  • $166.9 billion — legal sports-betting handle in 2025, up 11%, yielding $16.96 billion in sportsbook revenue (+22.8%) — AGA.
  • 31% of adults under 30 bet on sports in 2025, versus just 12% of those 65+ — the Gen Z / young-adult skew — Pew Research.
  • Online gaming now makes up more than a third of commercial revenue; iGaming hit $10.74 billion (+27.6%) in 2025 — AGA.
  • ~$673.6 billion a year flows through illegal/offshore channels (about 32% of all US gaming activity), costing states ~$15.3 billion in tax — FBI, AGA via World Casino Directory.
  • ~$1.76 billion wagered legally on Super Bowl LX (Feb 2026), up 27% year-over-year — AGA.
  • ~2 million US adults meet severe gambling-disorder criteria, with 4–6 million more at mild-to-moderate risk — NCPG.
  • The industry paid a record $18.1 billion in gaming taxes in 2025, up 15.1% — AGA.

GGR (Gross Gaming Revenue): the amount operators keep after paying out winnings — i.e. the net amount players lose. It is the standard measure of a gambling market's size. Handle is the total amount wagered (bets placed), most of which is paid back out; only the small "hold" percentage becomes GGR. A $166.9B sports-betting handle, for example, produced just $16.96B in revenue — about a 10% hold.

How much do Americans lose to gambling each year?

In 2025, US commercial gaming GGR — the total amount players lost on regulated casinos, sportsbooks and online platforms — reached a record $78.72 billion, a 9.2% jump over 2024 (AGA). That excludes tribal casinos, which are reported separately by the NIGC and set their own record of $43.9 billion in FY2024 (NIGC). Together, regulated commercial and tribal player losses total roughly $122–123 billion a year.

State lotteries add another layer: Americans bought more than $113 billion in lottery products in fiscal 2024, with about $104.7 billion in traditional ticket sales (Stateline, U.S. Census Bureau). Because lotteries pay out a large share as prizes, the loss portion is smaller, but counting all forms, total US gambling losses run well above $155 billion annually — the largest of any country in the world.

Per-adult loss: dividing combined commercial + tribal GGR (~$123B) by the roughly 267 million US adults gives about $460 per adult per year — and closer to $580–600 once lotteries are added. That is high in absolute dollars but ranks the US below Australia and Singapore per head (see global comparison). The per-adult figure is an estimate, not an official H2 Gambling Capital published number.

What drove the post-PASPA explosion in US gambling?

The single biggest driver of US gambling growth is the Supreme Court's 14 May 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA, which struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) and let states legalize sports betting. Commercial gaming revenue has set a record every year since (except the COVID year of 2020), nearly doubling from $41.7 billion in 2018 to $78.72 billion in 2025.

US commercial gaming GGR by year (AGA, $ billions)

  • 2018$41.7B
  • 2019$43.6B
  • 2020$30.0B
  • 2021$53.0B
  • 2022$60.4B
  • 2023$66.7B
  • 2024$71.9B
  • 2025$78.7B

Source: AGA Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker. 2020 fell 31% on COVID casino closures; every other year set a record.

  • 2018 Supreme Court repeals PASPA (May 14); New Jersey, Delaware and others launch sports betting within weeks. Commercial GGR: $41.7B.
  • 2020 COVID-19 shutters casinos; commercial GGR drops 31% to $30.0B — the lowest since 2003.
  • 2021 Sharp recovery to $53.0B (+21.5%) as venues reopen and mobile betting scales.
  • 2022 $60.4B; New York launches mobile sports betting and quickly becomes the largest handle state.
  • 2023 $66.7B; legal sports-betting handle tops $121B for the year.
  • 2024 $71.9B; Americans wager ~$149.9B on sports (+23.5%), sportsbook revenue $13.7B.
  • 2025 Record $78.72B; sports handle $166.9B, iGaming +27.6%. By year-end, ~38–39 states plus DC offer legal sports betting.

Fun Fact: In the 2017 NBA/NFL season, before PASPA fell, Nevada had a near-monopoly on legal sports wagering. By 2025, legal US sportsbooks were taking about $166.9 billion in bets a year — and Nevada's share of the Super Bowl handle had shrunk so much that in 2026 the state reported its lowest Super Bowl handle in a decade (MS Now).

Where do the losses come from — casinos, sports or online?

Within the 2025 commercial total of $78.72 billion, land-based casinos still dominate, but online segments are growing several times faster (AGA):

2025 US commercial GGR by segment (share of $78.72B)

  • Land-based casino — $51.06B (64.8%)
  • Sports betting — $16.96B (21.5%)
  • iGaming (online casino) — $10.74B (13.6%)
Source: AGA 2025. Tribal gaming ($43.9B FY2024) and state lotteries are reported separately and not included in the commercial total above.

2025 US commercial GGR by segment ($ billions)

  • Land-based casino$51.06B
  • Sports betting$16.96B
  • iGaming (online casino)$10.74B

Source: AGA 2025. Within land-based casinos, slot machines generated over $37B and table games just over $10B.

  • Land-based casinos — $51.06B (+2.3%): 493 commercial casinos; slots over $37B, table games just over $10B.
  • Sports betting — $16.96B (+22.8%): on a record $166.9B handle (+11%).
  • iGaming (online casino) — $10.74B (+27.6%): the fastest-growing segment, live in only ~7 states.
  • Tribal gaming (separate) — $43.9B (FY2024, +4.6%): 532 operations run by 243 tribes across 29 states (NIGC).
  • State lotteries (separate) — $104.7B+ in sales (FY2024): ~$321 per capita in lottery states (Stateline).

Who gambles in America, and how many?

Gambling is mainstream in America. Roughly 57% of US adults gambled in some form in the past year, per AGA survey data, and the NCPG puts the share at about seven in ten when every product (including lotteries and raffles) is counted (AGA, NCPG).

Sports betting, though it grabs headlines, is still a minority activity: about 21–22% of US adults placed a sports bet in the past 12 months (AGA; Pew, Jul–Aug 2025). Online accounts have spread fast: by early 2026, about 27% of Americans reported having an active account with an online sportsbook such as DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM or Caesars, and roughly a third have opened one at least once (Siena Research Institute).

How much do Americans bet on sports and the Super Bowl?

The Super Bowl is the single most-bet US event of the year. The AGA estimated Americans would legally wager about $1.76 billion on Super Bowl LX in February 2026 — a 27% jump on the prior year, with roughly 67 million American adults planning to bet, most of them on their phones (AGA). That is up from an estimated $1.39 billion on Super Bowl LIX a year earlier (AGA). On the year, the legal sports-betting handle reached $166.9 billion in 2025, up from $149.9 billion in 2024 and ~$121 billion in 2023 (AGA).

Handle vs. revenue, in practice: Americans bet $166.9B on sports in 2025 but lost "only" $16.96B of it — the rest was paid back as winnings. The roughly 10% sportsbook hold is why handle figures look enormous while actual losses are a fraction of them.

Which age group, gender and income gambles most?

Do young people gamble more than older Americans?

Young Americans are the most active sports bettors by a wide margin. In 2025, 31% of adults under 30 said they had placed a sports bet in the past year — including 36% of young men — compared with just 12% of adults 65 and older (Pew Research). The core sportsbook user base skews young overall: adults aged 25–44 account for roughly 65% of all sportsbook users, with the 25–34 bracket the single largest (Betzillion).

Adults under 30 who bet on sports31%
Adults 65+ who bet on sports12%

Share of US adults placing a sports bet in the past year, 2025. Source: Pew Research.

The young-men problem: Men aged 18–30 show gambling-problem rates far above the ~3% general-population baseline, and researchers increasingly frame sports-betting addiction among young men as a public-health concern. About 16% of online sports bettors meet criteria for disordered gambling and another 13% show signs of compulsive behavior (Johns Hopkins, NCPG via GamblingHarm.org).

Are men or women more likely to bet?

Sports betting remains heavily male: men make up roughly 69–72% of US sports bettors (Statista). Men also stake more — nearly 30% of male bettors wager over $500 a month, versus about 12% of women, while 65% of female bettors keep monthly stakes under $100 (Betzillion). The gender gap is narrowing, but slowly.

Are gamblers rich or poor?

Contrary to the stereotype, regulated sports bettors skew higher-income and more educated than the general public: about 44% of US sports bettors report household income of $100,000 or more (Betzillion). Lotteries, by contrast, are regressive — lower-income households spend a larger share of income on tickets, and per-capita lottery spending ranges from $856 in Massachusetts to just $48 in North Dakota (U.S. Census Bureau).

Is gambling moving online or staying land-based?

The center of gravity is shifting online. Online gaming — mobile sports betting plus iGaming — now makes up more than a third of US commercial gaming revenue, having barely existed before 2018 (AGA). Land-based casino revenue still leads at $51.06 billion but grew only 2.3% in 2025, while iGaming grew 27.6% and sports betting 22.8%. Crucially, regulated online casino play (iGaming) remains legal in only about seven states — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware — even as mobile sports betting is live in roughly 30+ states.

Land-based casino$51.06B
Online (sports betting + iGaming)$27.70B

2025 US commercial GGR, land-based vs online. Online (sports $16.96B + iGaming $10.74B) is now more than a third of the commercial total. Source: AGA 2025.

How much is bet in crypto and offshore versus regulated?

No US-licensed operator accepts cryptocurrency, so essentially all Bitcoin gambling by Americans happens on offshore sites (typically Curaçao- or Anjouan-licensed) that sit outside US consumer protections. These flows are large and growing. The AGA estimates Americans push roughly $673.6 billion a year through illegal and offshore channels — about 32% of all US gaming activity — costing states an estimated $15.3 billion in lost tax revenue (AGA via World Casino Directory). In December 2025 the FBI issued a public warning urging US bettors to avoid these unregulated operators (FBI).

Specific to sports, Americans placed about $84 billion with illegal bookmakers and offshore books, generating ~$5 billion in revenue for those operators (AGA estimate, reported by GamblingHarm.org). Offshore crypto casinos serving multiple markets reportedly pulled in around $18.6 billion in 2024, nearly 38% more than two years earlier (iGaming Today). The regulated share is slowly winning back ground — the proportion of sports bettors using only illegal outlets has fallen by about a third since 2022 — but roughly one in ten still wagers exclusively with unauthorized providers.

Why the offshore numbers are contested: the AGA's ~$673.6B "illegal market" figure is an industry estimate that some analysts dispute as imprecise, since it blends grey-market machines, offshore sportsbooks and crypto casinos. Treat it as an order-of-magnitude indicator of a very large shadow market, not an audited total.

Which states lose (and bet) the most?

Gambling is wildly uneven across the US. Nevada — built on Las Vegas — leads on commercial casino revenue, while Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York lead the post-PASPA online wave. Below are the top commercial-gaming states by 2024 GGR (the latest full state-by-state breakdown), with 2025 figures noted where reported (AGA State of the States, USA Leaders, PlayPennsylvania):

State2024 commercial GGRNotes
Nevada~$15.6 billion300+ casinos; ~$15.8B in 2025 (+1.2%)
Pennsylvania~$6.87 billionTop state outside Nevada; ~$7.7B in 2025
New Jersey~$6.3 billionAtlantic City + the largest iGaming market
New York~$5.17 billionLargest mobile sports-betting handle

On lottery spending, California, New York, Florida and Texas each sold over $8 billion in tickets in fiscal 2024, while per-capita spending is led by Massachusetts at $856 per resident — more than $250 above any other state (U.S. Census Bureau).

How many Americans have a gambling problem?

The flip side of record revenue is rising harm. The NCPG estimates about 2 million US adults meet criteria for severe gambling disorder, with another 4–6 million at mild-to-moderate risk; its NGAGE 3.0 survey found nearly 20 million adults reported at least one problematic gambling behavior "many times" in the past year (NCPG).

  • Sports bettors are roughly twice as likely to have a gambling problem as gamblers in general; ~16% of online sports bettors meet disordered-gambling criteria (NCPG via GamblingHarm.org).
  • Debt: average gambling-related debt reaches about $27,500 before treatment, and one report found 63% of sports-betting addicts had maxed out at least one credit card to fund betting (Prescott House).
  • Suicide risk: roughly 1 in 5 people with a gambling disorder attempt or complete suicide — a higher rate than other substance-use disorders (Johns Hopkins).
  • Help-seeking is rare: only about 8% of people with a gambling addiction ever seek help (AddictionHelp.com).

Quick Tip: the National Problem Gambling Helpline is free, confidential and available 24/7 at 1-800-522-4700 (call or text), routing to localized treatment resources nationwide.

What are the biggest individual gambling losses on record?

Terrance Watanabe — $127 million lost in a single year (Las Vegas, 2007). The heir to the Oriental Trading Company wagered more than $825 million and lost about $127 million at Caesars Palace and the Rio in 2007 — believed to be the biggest single-year losing streak in Las Vegas history. Watanabe reportedly accounted for roughly 5.6% of Harrah's total Las Vegas gambling revenue that year. He later sued the casinos, alleging they plied him with alcohol and painkillers to keep him playing; the dispute and related criminal charges were ultimately settled (Wikipedia, CBS News).

Archie Karas — "The Run" and a $30 million collapse (Las Vegas, 1992–1995). The Greek-American gambler arrived in Vegas with $50, borrowed $10,000, and ran it up to more than $40 million over about two and a half years — the largest documented winning streak in casino history. Then in 1995 he lost nearly all of it in roughly three weeks: about $11 million at craps, then $17 million more at baccarat, for some $30 million gone (Wikipedia, Las Vegas Review-Journal).

How does US gambling compare to other countries?

The US wins on totals but not per head. In absolute terms its ~$117 billion in losses (2024 H2 Gambling Capital basis) is the largest of any nation. But on a per-adult basis the US ranks well down the global list — Australia leads the world at roughly AU$1,635 (~US$1,200+) per adult, with Singapore around US$725, both ahead of the US (Statista / H2 Gambling Capital). In H2's earlier 2017 ranking the US sat around ninth at about $421 per adult. In short: more Americans gamble for less per person, while Australians gamble for roughly double the US per-adult loss.

Fun Fact: US commercial gaming now generates more annual tax revenue ($18.1 billion in 2025) than many countries' entire gambling markets are worth. That tax haul rose 15.1% in a single year (AGA).

Frequently asked questions

How much do Americans lose to gambling each year?

Regulated US commercial gaming lost players a record $78.72 billion in 2025, and tribal casinos another $43.9 billion (FY2024) — about $123 billion combined. Counting state lotteries pushes total US gambling losses above $155 billion a year, the highest of any country in the world.

How many Americans gamble?

Roughly 57% of US adults gambled in the past year (AGA), and up to seven in ten when all products are counted (NCPG). About 21–22% placed a sports bet, and around 27% have an active online sportsbook account.

How much is bet on the Super Bowl?

The AGA estimated Americans would legally wager about $1.76 billion on Super Bowl LX in February 2026 — up 27% year-over-year — with roughly 67 million adults expected to bet.

Do young people gamble more than older Americans?

Yes. In 2025, 31% of adults under 30 placed a sports bet versus just 12% of those 65 and older (Pew Research). Young men 18–30 also show the highest rates of gambling problems.

How big is the illegal/offshore gambling market in the US?

The AGA estimates roughly $673.6 billion a year flows through illegal and offshore channels — about 32% of all US gaming activity — including crypto casinos and offshore sportsbooks that operate outside US consumer protections. In December 2025 the FBI warned bettors against using them.

Which US state gambles the most?

Nevada leads on commercial casino revenue (~$15.8B in 2025). Pennsylvania is the top gaming state outside Nevada (~$7.7B in 2025), followed by New Jersey and New York. On lottery spending per person, Massachusetts leads at $856 per resident.

How does US gambling compare to Australia?

The US loses far more in total dollars, but Australia loses about double the US per adult — roughly AU$1,635 (~US$1,200+) versus an estimated ~$460–600 per US adult.

Sources

See also: Is Gambling Legal in the United States? Laws & 2026 Updates.

Note: This page is general information, not legal or financial advice. Gambling laws and figures change — always verify with official regulators before acting. 18+ · Gamble responsibly.