MW Sports betting is taking a bite out of gamblers' grocery budgets, new research suggests
By Weston Blasi
A report released just days before the start of the FIFA World Cup finds a correlation between sports betting and not having enough to eat
One in four sports bettors have missed bill payments due to wagers, and about a third said they have debts related to sports gambling, according to a 2025 study.
Just as people are expected to wager $60 billion on the World Cup, which kicks off Thursday, a new research paper warns that many bettors may be gambling away their grocery money.
"Wagering the Bread Money: Sports Betting Legalization and Food Sufficiency," published by the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research this week, finds a correlation between sports betting and lower food sufficiency, a measure of whether a household has enough to eat. Food insufficiency is considered more severe than food insecurity, defined as having access to food but worrying about it running out or not being nutritious enough.
The NBER paper suggests that gambling losses can weaken a household's finances, leaving fewer dollars for necessities like groceries. "Income loss from gambling may reduce financial stability and limit a household's ability to purchase food," the authors wrote.
The authors went on to calculate that the legalization of sports gambling in nine states led to an additional 284,000 food-insufficient households and $130.2 million in excess healthcare spending annually. And they noticed a cyclical spike in lower food sufficiency during the NFL season.
"Our findings have important policy implications, especially considering upcoming major sports events in the U.S., including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games," the researchers wrote.
Several U.S. sports-betting operators did not respond to requests for comment.
Wagering on sports became widely accessible starting in 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ban on sports betting, paving the way for states to legalize in-person and online betting. Since then, 39 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C., now offer some form of legal sports betting, according to the American Gaming Association.
Part of the reason many states have pushed to make sports betting legal is the added tax revenue it can generate. As of May 2026, New York has made the most in tax revenue from sports betting - $4.2 billion - followed by Illinois ($1.2 billion), Pennsylvania ($988 million) and New Jersey ($887 million).
The NBER paper used data and survey findings from the Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, state gaming regulators and Google search trends to estimate the impact of legalized sports gambling on food sufficiency as sports gambling rolled out in various states between 2021 and 2023.
The researchers found that as sports betting was legalized, household food sufficiency dropped 2.1% among working-age adults without a college degree overall, and a lot more - 10.5% - among active bettors. They also reported bigger drops in food sufficiency among adults ages 25 to 44, who tend to be higher-propensity sport bettors compared with other age groups.
This new paper adds to a growing body of research warning that excessive sports betting could hurt a person's finances. People betting on sports tend to invest less, which means potentially missing out on big gains over time due to compound growth. Sports betting is also linked to lower savings rates and higher rates of overdrawn bank accounts, according to previous NBER research. A 2025 US News survey also found that one in four sports bettors have missed bill payments due to wagers, and about a third (30%) said they have debts related to sports gambling.
Read more: Here are all the ways sports gambling is hurting some bettors' finances
Les Bernal, national director at Stop Predatory Gambling, a nonprofit focused on preventing gambling addiction, said the new NBER paper is consistent with what he sees regarding food and overall affordability issues.
"The spread of commercialized sports gambling has helped to turn a nation of small earners who could be small savers into a nation of habitual bettors," Bernal told MarketWatch. "It's trapped millions of Americans, especially young men, in life-changing debt and financial distress."
Bernal added that delinquency rates for credit cards and car loans have jumped by 25% to 27% for borrowers under age 40 in states that legalize internet sports betting.
The authors of the NBER paper also linked gambling addiction with mental-health issues - something that other studies, including from the U.K.'s Mental Health Foundation, have also asserted. That outcome can also threaten a household's food security: Problem gambling is associated with psychological distress, anxiety and depression, the authors said, which could in turn impact a person's job performance and earnings.
"These downstream consequences can reduce the financial resources available for food," the paper said.
The researchers note some limitations with their findings. While they identified a relationship between food insufficiency and sports gambling, they noted that direct causation for such a large issue is difficult to establish. What's more, the information on food insufficiency was self-reported and could be inaccurate. The study's time period also overlaps with the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as with rising inflation in the U.S. and changes to SNAP benefits, which have also made it more difficult for many Americans to afford food.
Read more: Inflation tops 4% for first time in 3 years. Is this the peak?
Sports betting has become a highly regulated industry in the U.S. since it debuted in 2018. And traditional betting operators like DraftKings $(DKNG)$ and FanDuel $(FLUT)$ provide resources to address problem gambling to consumers who use their products. They also have various in-app tools to limit the amount of time and money users spend on their apps.
Most betting apps also provide tips on best practices for gamblers, like how to create a budget and how to bet responsibly.
From the archives: Here are all the ways sports gambling is hurting some bettors' finances
"We've seen repeated news stories about the rising price of eggs and other groceries, and the impact it's having on family budgets," Bernal said. "If you add up all of the financial losses to online sports gambling, state lotteries and regional casinos, the American people are on course to lose more than $1 trillion of personal wealth over the next five years - $300,000 every minute. That's a lot of eggs."
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, free, confidential support is available from the new National Problem Gambling Helpline by calling 1-800-MY-RESET (available 24/7).
Read on: DraftKings and FanDuel are likely to lose money on the NBA Finals - whether the Knicks or Spurs win
-Weston Blasi
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 10, 2026 16:29 ET (20:29 GMT)
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