US sports betting nears $300 billion as experts warn of addiction risks

Americans wagered roughly $166 billion on sports in 2025, more money than the country's film, music, book and museum industries generated combined.

Box office revenue is expected to reach $8.87 billion this year, still 22% below pre-pandemic levels. Recorded music brought in $11.5 billion, live music $18.51 billion, book publishing $14.6 billion, and museums an estimated $16.4 billion.

This means that all three industries combined have generated about 70 billion in total revenue, which is less than the revenue from sports betting. 

According to Martin Conway, an adjunct lecturer at the sports industry management programme at Georgetown University, sports betting has become ingrained in the way fans consume sports, as opposed to a separate ancillary activity.

Economist Victor Matheson of Holy Cross said the true figure likely runs higher still, since tribal casinos in states including Florida, Washington and Wisconsin do not have to disclose their handle. He estimates Florida alone contributes $5–10 billion.

Add unregulated activity on prediction-market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, and Matheson believes total sports wagering could approach $300 billion.

Handle is not the same as spending, because more than 90% of the money wagered goes back to bettors in the form of winning payouts, meaning that the average bettor only walks away with losses worth around $100. However, it is important to note that almost all of these losses are concentrated amongst only 5% of bettors.

Conway noted that sportsbooks have an incentive to track when especially active bettors stop betting and to entice them back in when they do by giving them “free” bets, and a study from the New York Federal Reserve found that credit card delinquencies among millennials and Gen Xers have spiked in states where sports betting was legalised, while a survey from US News & World Report even found that one in four bettors believe they cannot stop gambling.