The economics of legal sports betting
Sports betting, gambling and lotteries appear on 42 recent papers in the finance and economics journals. Since 2018, most US states have legalized online sports betting, and app-based betting is spreading elsewhere. What has it done to household finances, bankruptcies and the stock trading of the same people?
What prompted this
Since October 2025, 42 papers carry a sports-betting, gambling, lottery, casino or betting keyword (20 in finance journals, 16 in economics): "sports betting" on 8, "gambling culture" on 5, "lotteries" on 6, "betting odds" on 4. Household debt and consumer credit are large topics, but the state-by-state legalization is an experiment that few of these papers use.
Questions
- After a state legalizes online betting, do credit card balances, overdrafts and bankruptcies rise, and in which households?
- Does betting substitute for stock trading and lottery play, or add to them?
- Do tax revenues cover the costs that show up in credit markets and problem-gambling services?
Data that could help
Credit bureau panels by state, legalization dates, betting handle and revenue reports, and brokerage trading data.
Next step
Use the staggered legalization across US states to estimate changes in credit card delinquencies and bankruptcies in the two years after launch.