Abstract
On November 5 millions of American voters will go to the polls to decide on who they want to control their government from the top on down.
Most of the headlines will go to the battle between incumbent vice president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump but there are also 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 seats in the Senate up for grabs.
Add in 13 governorships in the balance, as well as many seats across various state legislatures, and there is potential for significant changes in the way the United States government is run. For American citizens there is a lot on the line and every reason to register to vote.
The results of the upcoming election will have enormous consequences for the legislation that gets passed in the years to come across a number of sectors.
One of our areas of expertise at RG.org — gambling legislation — is no exception.
There are still a number of legislative battles being fought over the legalization of betting across the United States at the moment, and what happens on November 5 will undoubtedly have an impact on them.
That begs the question of which presidential candidate, and which political party, would be a greater supporter of gambling if they win over the American electorate.
Public Sentiment around Sports Betting
To understand the politics and legislation about sports betting it’s important to know where the voters are on the issue.
Recent polling on sports betting legalization is relatively scarce because it’s not as salient an issue for most voters as things like the economy, national defense, corruption in politics, healthcare, and education. When Pew Research Center did a survey on Americans’ policy priority earlier in the year, it unsurprisingly did not get a mention.
That said, a local poll in Missouri — a state where sports betting has not yet been legalized and a legislative battle is being fought — the same month provides some insights on where voters sit when asked about gambling. A SLU/YouGov poll of 900 likely voters demonstrated strong support for legalization, and evidence that this issue has bipartisan support.
The demographic divide that was most stark in the poll was age rather than political affiliation. Respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 supported legalized betting on pro sports teams by an overwhelming margin (76%). Meanwhile, less than half of Missourians over the age of 65 (45%) were pro-legalization.
Another recent poll in Texas, which like Missouri doesn’t have legal gambling, didn't demonstrate support that’s as robust, but a plurality still said they were in favor of legalizing online sports betting.
The Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation surveyed a 1,600 sample representative of the state’s population and received the following results on three different topics related to gambling:
Once again on this issue political ideology did not play a significant role in responses as a similar plurality of Democrats (49%), Republicans (48%), and Independents (47%) were in favor of online sports betting.
The most notable demographic outlier was white women who showed the lowest support level (37%) of any group identified by the poll. The greatest support level came from Black men and Hispanic men (both at 62%).
While the precise numbers will vary regionally, what presidential candidates are dealing with is an environment where gambling has been legalized in most states and most people seem to support that.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how Harris and Trump are likely to handle the issue.
References
Nick has been fascinated with sports since he was first taken to a Toronto Maple Leafs game back in 1998, and he's written about them professionally since 2014.
Nick has covered baseball and hockey for outlets like The Athletic, Sportsnet, and Yahoo Sports, and his sports betting expertise has grown since its legalization in Ontario in 2022.
Between 2022 and 2023 he worked for a betting startup called NorthStar Bets, and in 2024 he contributed to Oddspedia before joining the Responsible Gambling team.