27% of Americans have an active sports betting account

Most men surveyed have an active gambling account and prediction markets might be down to a recent increase in sports betting activity.

A new survey from the Siena Research Institute (SRI) has revealed how rife sports betting is in America. 

27% of Americans have an active sports betting account with an online bookmaker. 52% of men aged 18-49 have an active sports account. The overall number of 27% is up from 22% in 2025 and 19% in 2024. 

A third of Americans said they have opened a sports betting account at least once in their life. 

The rise of sporting prediction markets

The recent increase may be due to the rise of prediction markets. 15% of the people surveyed have placed a sports bet via a prediction market like Kalshi or Polymarket. 

These numbers track with another recent story, which suggested that the rise in prediction markets is due to under-21s who would not legally have access to a standard sports betting account. 

“The results show that online sports betting remains an active part of life for a significant portion of Americans,” said Don Levy, SRI’s Director. “Since we began asking respondents about online sports betting in 2024, there has been a steady rise in those who say they have an active account – from about one-in-five to now one-in-four – and the share of respondents who bet on these platforms has grown just as much – from seventeen percent of Americans in 2024 to twenty-two percent in 2026. ”

Last year, a survey from the UK Gambling Commission revealed that half of Britons had gambled in the previous month of the survey, although problem gambling cases had not increased in recent years.