The Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center recently released the results of a February poll that included questions about March Madness and sports betting. Our attitudes about gambling have evolved, and the polls provide a good guide.
In a 2014 Marist poll, 15% said they would fill out a bracket for the NCAA men’s tournament. Nine percent in the new AP/NORC poll said they fill in a bracket for men’s March Madness every year and another 17% in some years. Those responses for the women’s brackets were 4% and 12%, respectively. Thirty-five percent of men told AP/NORC they participate in the pool yearly or in some years, compared with 19% of women. Those under age 45 were also more likely (30%) to do so than those who were older (23%).
Stepping back into history, we see concern in early polls about gambling’s influence, but tolerance as well. In 1938, 51% told Gallup interviewers that “government lotteries would produce an unwholesome gambling spirit in this country,” while 49% disagreed. By the standards of the time, people did gamble: 29% had purchased a raffle ticket within the year, 26% had bought a number on a punch board, and 21% had played a slot machine. Nineteen percent said they had bet on an election.
In 1951, 76% felt there were “tie-ups” between gamblers and government officials in Washington. Still, 38% favored legalized gambling throughout the country (55% were opposed). By 1989, a quarter in a CBS News/NYT poll said there should be laws against all forms of legalized gambling in their state, but two-thirds disagreed.
The first question I was able to find about gambling in an office pool was asked in 1985 in a survey by the Roper Organization for US News. Forty-five percent said they had participated, while 55% had not. In a 1989 question that asked specifically whether the respondent had bet money in an office pool, that response dropped to 18%. In a 1999 Gallup question, 65% called participation in an office pool “gambling.” In the new AP/NORC poll, 56% said it is gambling when someone enters a March Madness pool for money, while 21% said it wasn’t, and 22% that it depended on the amount of money.
Gallup first asked about the morality of gambling in 1992, when 32% said it was immoral. Seven years later, a similar 29% gave that response. Yet in a 1997 Fox News question, 26% of registered voters said gambling was fundamentally immoral, 44% a harmless recreation, and 25% somewhere in between. In a 2022 Pew poll on the legalization of sports betting, 57% said it was neither a good nor bad thing, while 34% said it was a bad thing. Only 8% said it was a good thing.
Gallup has asked on a number of occasions whether certain behaviors are morally wrong or morally acceptable. The first time the organization asked about gambling in 2003, 63% said it was morally acceptable. In 2024, that response was 66%. The trend reached a high of 69%, but it has basically been flat. People with higher levels of income and education were more likely to find it morally acceptable.
The idea that gambling might be a problem first surfaced in a question asked by Harris in 1964 when 17% said they knew someone who gambled too much. In a 1988 Gallup/Times Mirror survey, 10% said they sometimes gambled more than they should. Starting in 1989, 4% said gambling was a source of problems in their family. The response has stayed below 10% through 2016, the last time they asked the question.
Although gambling in general is acceptable to a majority of Americans, 74% told the AP/NORC interviewers last month that they had never bet on college sports with friends or in an office pool. Whether you are tossing a few dollars into the office pool or not, enjoy the March Madness games.