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UKYoung Adults Lead Online Betting Growth, Bank of America Report Finds
Key Highlights
- A new Bank of America Institute report looks at how online betting is growing and who is using betting platforms.
- Gen Z and Millennials made up 88% of online betting activity in July.
- Customers got back less than 75 cents for every $1 sent to betting platforms, based on observed bank transfers.
Online betting is becoming more common in Americans’ financial activity, with younger consumers driving much of the growth, according to a new Bank of America Institute (BOAI) report. The study found bettors receive less than 75 cents on average for every dollar sent to betting platforms.
Bank of America Examines the Rise of Online Betting
Released on Sept. 1, the BOAI’s report examines how Americans are using online betting platforms. The study tracks payments to and from online sports betting, horse racing, and prediction market companies using Bank of America customer data. Betting platforms were identified using “industry-researched merchant names,” while only cardholders with a minimum of five transactions per month were included in the dataset. The study also involved insights from a Bank of America Market Insights Survey involving 2,351 respondents.
The report highlights more than just how many people are betting. It also provides insight into the age and income of users when they create new accounts, how much money customers send and receive, and whether some players see betting as a form of investing.
Gen Z & Millennials Lead Online Betting
Young adults accounted for most of the online betting activity Bank of America tracked in July 2026. Gen Z (born after 1995) accounted for 48% of activity, while Millennials (born between 1978-95) made up another 40%. Together, the two generations represented 88% of online betting activity during the month.
Older adults’ betting activity wasn’t as substantial in July but is on the rise. Gen X (born between 1965-77) accounted for 9% of July activity, while Baby Boomers (born between 1946-64) represented 3%. A separate TransUnion study highlighted 4% and 7% increases in year-over-year betting activity for Gen X and Baby Boomers in Q4 2024.
Gen Z’s betting share in July is especially notable because Millennials had been the dominant generation in online sports betting during the first half of 2026. That changed in June during the World Cup, when Gen Z moved ahead. The shift reflects a broader trend of Gen Z prioritizing app-based financial and entertainment experiences, as underscored in the BOAI’s August Gen Z Reality Check report.
Sports Seasons Bring In New Bettors
Online betting use across all Bank of America consumers increased during the first seven months of 2026. Around 5% of the financial institution’s customers placed sports betting wagers online in July. The total number of players was up 40% from the beginning of the year, driven largely by major events on the sports calendar.
First-time online betting users grew 22% during the NFL season, based on year-over-year activity. The jump became even larger in the summer. First-time users in June and July were more than three times the January level. The report pointed to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and growing interest in prediction markets as the likely reasons for the increase.
Bettors Get Back Less Than They Send
The BOAI study also compared money sent to betting platforms with money transferred back to customer accounts. On average, customers received less than 75 cents for every $1 they sent during the period studied. That figure does not include potential winnings left inside betting accounts, only the money withdrawn from them.
Even with that consideration, the study results suggest online betting is not a steady source of income. Higher-income Gen Z players had the highest cash recovery rate among the age and income groups studied in July, but it was also below the break-even level at just over 80 cents. Baby Boomers had the lowest cash recovery rate, with lower-income customers recovering less than 60 cents per $1 sent.
Betting Households Show Financial Differences
The report highlighted other differences between households that bet online and those that did not. In 2026, the median deposit account balance of betting households was 59% of the balance held by non-betting households, meaning households with online sports betting activity had about 41% less money in their accounts than non-betting households.
Betting activity was more evenly divided by income. Lower-income households accounted for 37% of July activity, compared with 34% for middle-income households and 29% for higher-income households.
Bank of America also found that betting households had strong card spending growth in July, excluding online betting activity. However, the report cautioned that age and income may explain some of those differences.
Some Consumers See Betting as Investing
The report also included insights into how people think about sports betting and prediction markets. The Bank of America Market Insights Survey revealed that 20% of respondents viewed sports betting as an investment category.
Gen Z was twice as likely to see sports betting that way. Across all age groups, people were also more likely to view prediction market contracts as investments than sports betting. The report’s authors hypothesized shared features, such as real-time pricing and community participation, have increasingly blurred the lines between sports betting, crypto assets, and prediction markets.
That overlap is raising new questions for regulators. Federal officials have treated some prediction market contracts as financial products, while some state and tribal regulators argue that certain sports and entertainment contracts are closer to gambling.
