Rent. Groceries. The electric bill. These are things families cut when the bets do not pay off. For a growing number of American families, sports betting has moved from the background of family life to the foreground of household budgets, and the financial consequences are adding up. 

Legal online sports betting has spread like wildfire. Since the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association opened the door for legalization, 30 states and Washington, D.C., now permit sports betting through websites and mobile apps. While public debate has mostly centered on the integrity of sports and whether games are clean, far less attention has been paid to what happens at home. The legal expansion of sports betting has largely outpaced the collective understanding of the stressors it places on families. 

Capita’s latest Quarterly Insights survey, conducted in partnership with YouGov, offers a closer look at sports betting through a family lens, examining its effects on household finances, transparency in relationships, and the lives of children. Our research makes it clear that online sports betting is a relatively new but powerful variable landing on families already navigating economic fragility and instability. 

Here is what we learned about sports betting and its impact on family stability—what we might call the “one-third problem”: 

• Nearly one-third (31%) of parents with minor children reported that someone in their household placed a bet on a sporting event in the past year, through an app, a website, or in person. 
• The financial consequences are real and immediate. Among households with known sports betting, nearly one-third (31%) cut spending on essentials at least once to place bets or cover losses. 
• Slightly more than one-third (34%) of parents in households with known sports betting say they are somewhat or very concerned about the financial risks betting poses for their family.

The Income Gap

Our data is not the only evidence that sports betting is straining household finances. Other researchers have found that states that legalized sports betting saw residents’ savings fall, credit scores drop, and bankruptcy rates climb by as much as 28%, with the most pronounced effects among financially constrained households. The American Institute for Boys and Men, which tracks research on the financial harms of sports betting, has documented similar patterns, estimating that legalization has contributed to roughly 30,000 additional bankruptcies in the United States. 

Not all families feel the financial pressure of sports betting equally. Among households with known betting, those in the highest income bracket are least likely to report cutting essential spending to cover bets, with 16% of parents earning $100k or more saying they had done so. Among parents earning under $30k, that figure climbs to 58%. The families with the least financial cushion are the most likely to face difficult tradeoffs because of betting. They bear the costs and illustrate the consequences of introducing an unpredictable financial variable into a household that has little room to absorb it.

Transparency and the Hidden Toll 

Sports betting can also reshape dynamics within a household, particularly around financial transparency. Among parents in households with known betting, only half (50%) say they are fully aware of how much their spouse or partner bets in a typical month. Roughly one in four (26%) has only a general sense of the amounts, and 5% know betting happens but have no knowledge of the figures involved.

When an unpredictable financial variable operates in the background of a household, without full visibility by both partners, it can create conflict, erode trust, and complicate joint financial planning. Researchers studying the effects of problem gambling on relationships have documented elevated rates of separation and divorce. While our data does not directly measure relational outcomes of sports betting, it helps contextualize how a lack of financial transparency within a household can affect overall family stability and well-being. Financial secrecy is rarely consequence-free.

The Gender Divide

Betting is not evenly distributed across households. Fathers are 3.5 times more likely (35%) to say they have personally placed a bet in the last 12 months than mothers (10%). Mothers are also more likely to say that nobody in their household has placed a bet on a sporting event within the past year. The differences in these figures, coupled with responses about financial transparency, suggest an awareness gap where mothers are not fully aware of how fathers engage with online sports betting. 

That gap also extends to attitudes about legality. More than half of fathers overall (53%) believe that sports betting through apps and websites should be legal, compared to 31% of mothers. This gap narrows slightly among parents with betting in their household. 80% of those fathers say online sports betting should be legal, and 68% of mothers agree. 

Sports betting is often framed as a young men’s issue and a behavior concentrated among a particular demographic. The American Institute for Boys and Men has been at the forefront of that research, documenting how the financial harms of sports betting fall disproportionately on young men. Our data adds an important dimension by showing that this is also a father’s issue. 

When a father is preoccupied with bets, wins, and losses and stressed about his family’s financial future, he may become less available, patient, and engaged with his children and partner as he would otherwise be.  Understanding how betting affects fatherhood and what it means for children’s development and family relationships is a subject that deserves serious attention.

The Next Generation 

Sports betting is not only confined to adults in a household, and it is already reaching children. Among parents with known betting in their household, nearly one-quarter (22%) have observed their teenage child or another minor discussing sports betting. 

This raises concerns not only about potentially illegal betting among minors, but about the risks and formation of habits that researchers have linked to problem gambling in adulthood. The rapid normalization of sports betting, including its heavy advertising presence, makes the family home an increasingly significant site of early exposure.

The Case for a Family Lens

Sports betting introduces an additional and unpredictable financial variable that can destabilize families who are already struggling. A significant share of American parents are betting, and the number is likely to continue to grow. 

Future research should dig deeper into the impacts of betting on family well-being. At Capita, we are especially curious about how betting is shaping household budgets and what household essentials are being cut, whether it is utilities,, food, school supplies, or rent, and what gets deprioritized to accommodate fluctuating bets, gains, and losses.  We also want to take a closer look at factors beyond economic stability, including the mental health impact on parents who experience betting-related stress and the long-term effects on children within these households. 

Attitudes toward online sports betting reflect the complexity of the issue. About 40% of parents believe it should be legal, roughly one-third are unsure, and the remainder think it should be illegal. Yet even among households where betting has been reported, most support some form of restrictions. More attention should be dedicated to understanding which restrictions are most likely to reduce harm and support the predictability, stability, and quality of life for families.

The policy conversation on this issue has largely centered on sports integrity and individual freedom. It is time to focus on what legalized sports betting means for children and families, too.

Methodology 

On behalf of Capita, YouGov conducted a national survey totaling 1,000 parents with children under age 18, with oversamples of 200 parents in Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, and North Carolina. The total sample was 1,800 parents. The survey was fielded from April 14 to April 27, 2026. The margin of error for the national data is +/-3.5%. The survey findings are available here and the cross-tabs are available here.

Elise Anderson is a Manager at Capita’s Family Policy Lab.