NCAA Survey Shows Many Young Adults Bet on Sports

A survey commissioned by the NCAA showed that the majority of 18 to 22-year-olds bet on sports. This includes many young people on college campuses.

The survey, which probed into sports wagering tendencies, was conducted online by Opinion Diagnostics, a Boston-based polling company. The firm talked with a total of 3,527 people, half of which were college students with the other half being young adults not in college.

After talking with the respondents, Opinion Diagnostics came to certain conclusions. As it turns out, around 58% of the respondents had wagered at least once. In addition, 67% of the college students living on campus said that they are active bettors and wager on sports regularly.

Other curious data about college students showed that 41% of them have placed a bet on their schools’ teams. Furthermore, 35% said that they have used a student bookmaker.

Opinion Diagnostics learned that 30% of all respondents would usually wager around $10-20. However, 6% said that they have lost more than $500 to betting in a day.

Many respondents (28%) said they would bet on their mobile phones. The majority of punters playing online or in-person said that they enjoy live in-game betting the most.

The NCAA Wants to Understand How Young Bettors Think

Charlie Baker, NCAA’s president, commented on the survey, saying that it was needed to help the league better understand young bettors.

We needed a new baseline so we can better understand what student-athletes are experiencing on their campuses and among their peers so we can best help them deal with the potentially disruptive dynamic of legal sports betting.

Charlie Baker, president, NCAA

The president added that sports betting is increasingly popular in the USA, which is why it attracts many young customers. However, Baker emphasized the need for a better understanding of how sports betting affects young people and even young athletes.

Because of that, the NCAA plans to also commission a survey that probes into athletes’ betting tendencies. The association plans to conduct it this autumn. The organization has been conducting this survey every four years since 2003.

Understanding how betting affects young people and student-athletes is paramount to establishing a sustainable market. Many regulated markets believe that young adults are very vulnerable to gambling harm and therefore seek to protect such customers from constant promotions.

The United Kingdom’s Gambling Commission, for example, plans to further research this field and seek links between gateway products for young people and gambling harm.