New data reveals the alarming financial behavior of America’s 18- to 34-year-old gambling generation who grew up in the era of fully legal gambling apps.
According to a survey by the National Council on Problem Gambling, 65% of U.S. adults over the age of 21 report gambling before the age of 21.
15.4% of gamblers aged 18-24 and 13.7% of gamblers aged 25-34 have sold personal property to finance gambling. Combined for both groups, this equates to an estimated 12 million Americans aged 18 to 34 who sold their belongings to gamble, one of the most well-known clinical markers of a serious gambling problem.
Sports betting was legalized in 38 US states and Washington DC by the end of 2025. Commercial gaming revenue in 2025 was a record $78.7 billion.
The Journal of the American Medical Association found that the launch of online sportsbooks led to a 34-67% increase in searches for help related to gambling addiction in many states.
Almost half of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 have gambled with debt, more than a third have lied to loved ones about it, and an estimated 12 million people between the ages of 18 and 34 have sold property to keep playing. This is a generation that grew up with sportsbook apps, and their economic damage is now immeasurable.
João Mourato, head of iGaming products at VIP Grinders, says these findings are very worrying and there may be a need to put limits on the amount young people can bet.
“This generation has never known a world without legal sports betting apps. They were teenagers when the floodgates opened in 2018. There has been relentless marketing ever since. The fact that almost half of 25-34 year olds gamble with debt is the predictable result of an industry that has expanded faster than the regulatory framework designed to protect consumers,” he said.
