Sports Betting Is Everywhere, Especially on Credit Reports

Jacob Goss () and Daniel Mangrum
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Jacob Goss: https://econ.wisc.edu/staff/goss-jacob/

No 20260325, Liberty Street Economics from Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Abstract: Since 2018, more than thirty states have legalized mobile sports betting, leading to more than a half trillion dollars in wagers. In our recent Staff Report, we examine how legalized sports betting affects household financial health by comparing betting activity and consumer credit outcomes between states that legalized to those that have not. We find that legalization increases spending at online sportsbooks roughly tenfold, but betting does not stop at state boundaries. Nearby areas where betting is not legal still experience roughly 15 percent the increase of counties where it is legal. At the same time, consumer financial health suffers. Our analysis finds rising delinquencies in participating states, with spillover effects across state lines. What is more, even though the share of people taking up sports betting after legalization is small (roughly 3 percent of the population), overall credit delinquency rises by about 0.3 percentage points. Our findings suggest that sports betting can have dramatic implications for household financial stability.

Keywords: sports betting; consumer credit; spatial spillovers; state taxation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D14 H71 H73 L83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03-25
Note: Editor’s Note: The chart notes for the first chart have been updated to correct errors in how we labeled the trend line colors. (March 25, 2026)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fednls:102938

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DOI: 10.59576/lse.20260325

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