Rutgers Study Shows 42.7 Percent of Teens Aged 13-17 Gambled in Past Year

A Rutgers University study has documented high levels of gambling among young Americans. Researchers found that 42.7% of those between ages 13 and 17 participated in some form of gambling over the past year. Of teenage gamblers, 11% were classified as high risk for problem gambling.

More than half of respondents ages 13 to 27, or 52.5%, reported gambling in the past year. The Center for Gambling Studies at the Rutgers School of Social Work surveyed 1,677 Americans in that range. Nearly 18.9% of adolescents 13 to 17 gambled at least weekly.

Lia Nower, director of the center, who led the study, said in a statement: “We are living in a time where anyone can have a casino or sports book in their pocket. Now teens who should be playing sports are betting on them, often with family members.”

Demographic Patterns and Risk Factors

High-risk rates for problem gambling were similar across genders, at 10.7% for females and 9.9% for males among those who gambled. Black respondents reported the highest past-year participation, at 63.9%. Among gamblers, 17.7% of Black respondents and 12.8% of Hispanic respondents were high risk, compared with 6.4% of white respondents.

Lower household income tracked with elevated problems. Nearly 30% of gamblers from households under $10,000 annually were high risk, along with 22.8% from households earning $10,000 to under $20,000. Among high-risk adolescents, 75.5% had a family member who gambled, 66.3% believed a family member had a gambling problem, and 61.2% had gambled with a family member. The study also recorded 20.7% participation in sports betting and 18.4% in season-long fantasy contests, along with 14% in cryptocurrency trading within the full sample, with approximately 40% of prediction market participants and 41% of social-casino players classified as high risk.

Priorities for Prevention and Oversight

Nower and the research team recommend prevention education begin in middle school for teachers, students, parents, and counselors. They call for stronger oversight of prediction markets, social-casino games, and similar products that may evade standard safeguards. Additional steps include creation of a federal gambling regulatory agency to set national minimum standards and self-exclusion programs, plus an office for problem gambling inside the National Institutes of Health with focus on low-income communities. The findings, as reported by CDC Gaming, tie family gambling patterns directly to youth risk.