For the first time in the history of the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) polling, results suggest that more than half of all American adults — an estimated 134 million, extrapolated from polling of 2,001 registered voters aged 21 or over — visited a casino in the past year.

That was among the top-line takeaways from the “American Attitudes Towards Gaming” report released Thursday afternoon by the AGA.

Casino visitation, which does not necessarily involve gambling, had understandably dipped below 30% of poll respondents in the COVID-impacted 2020 and 2021, but the number has risen four years straight, reaching a new high this year at 52.7%.

Gambling participation over the past year in some fashion also reached a new high in the survey, with 57% answering yes to the question, “Have you participated in any form of gambling at all during the past 12 months, whether at a casino or racetrack, at a sportsbook, a lottery location, at a bar, tavern, truck stop or any other non-casino location, or over the Internet?”

The survey results indicate gambling is a non-partisan endeavor, with 58% of registered Republicans participating in gambling, 56% of Democrats participating, and 60% of Independents answering in the affirmative.

Observers may debate all they wish whether increased engagement with gambling is a good thing, but certainly these are welcome statistics to industry stakeholders.

Acceptance on the upswing

As more forms of legal gambling spread and go mainstream, acceptance of gambling appears to be on the rise, with a new high in the survey of 62% saying they feel gambling is an acceptable activity for them and for others. Another 28% find it acceptable for others but not for them personally, while a new low of only 10% declared gambling unacceptable for anyone.

The survey also recorded new highs in terms of the percentage of respondents who believe “the casino gaming industry has a positive impact on the U.S. economy” (77%) and who say “the casino gaming industry is a growing industry” (86%).

If gambling is on the rise, one hopes responsible gambling programs are rising to meet it. According to the AGA’s survey, 76% of respondents say the casino and sports betting industry’s responsible gaming programs are either very effective or somewhat effective. The percentages are higher than that among all groups of active gamblers, with sports bettors and iGaming players both well above 80% in terms of regarding the RG programs as effective.

Meanwhile, despite an increasing degree of negative press and highly publicized scandal surrounding sports betting of late, an overwhelming majority of those polled say they support legal, regulated sports wagering in their state. In all, 74% support legal sports betting — almost evenly split between those who support it “strongly” and “not strongly” — though that is down a tick from the 2024 survey, when support was at 75%.

The survey was conducted online between July 22-Aug. 8, with a stated margin of error of +/- 2%.