In recent years, the legalization and marketing of sports gambling have surged dramatically across the United States, bringing a previously underground pastime into mainstream society. Amid this boom, a novel inquiry has emerged probing the intersection of deeply rooted cultural phenomena: religion and sports gambling. A groundbreaking study co-conducted by sociologists Chris Knoester of The Ohio State University and Laura Upenieks of Baylor University delves into how religious identity influences sports gambling behavior in nuanced and unexpected ways.
Conventional wisdom has long held that religious affiliation serves as a moral bulwark against gambling activities, often framed as a vice or a form of risky, ethically fraught behavior. However, the research findings challenge the simplicity of that assumption, revealing that religiosity interacts with sports gambling habits in complex and less predictable ways. Utilizing a robust dataset derived from the National Sports and Society Survey (NSASS), conducted through the American Population Panel, the study scrutinizes responses from 3,701 U.S. adults spanning every state, surveyed between fall 2018 and spring 2019—timed shortly after the landmark May 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that dismantled a federal ban on sports betting.
An intriguing pattern emerged relating to frequency of religious service attendance and gambling participation. Contrary to expectations, it was not individuals who regularly attended services weekly who were least likely to gamble on sports. Rather, those attending worship services sporadically, about once or twice per year, exhibited the highest propensity to engage in sports gambling. This “moral gray zone,” as described by the authors, suggests a threshold effect whereby partial religious engagement lacks sufficient normative pressure to deter gambling, while at the same time, religious exposure prevents outright disengagement that might otherwise insulate one from culturally prevailing sports betting trends.
Further distinguishing the study is its attention to denominational distinctions, particularly highlighting Catholic respondents as a subgroup with elevated betting participation and financial investment compared to atheists, agnostics, and Protestants. Catholic men, in particular, demonstrated a strikingly high 45% likelihood of placing sports bets in the past year, starkly contrasting with the 19% probability among Catholic women. This gender disparity is not merely statistical noise but aligns with doctrinal interpretations and parish-level teachings in many Catholic contexts, where gambling is often viewed as morally permissible within regulated or limited boundaries.
The financial calculus of sports gamblers also revealed telling insights. While 17% of respondents reported engaging in sports betting in the previous year, the average monetary outlay was modest — approximately $57 per person across all bettors, with men averaging about $91 and women $46. Intriguingly, the reported average winnings of $165 suggest that, for many, gambling on sports might be a recreational activity with some financial return, although the researchers appropriately express skepticism regarding the accuracy of these self-reports due to potential biases inherent in self-assessment of gambling outcomes.
This study contributes critical quantitative and qualitative data to sociological understandings of leisure, risk, and morality at the intersection of emerging gambling markets and entrenched religious identities. The findings illuminate that religious identity can serve both as a protective factor against excessive gambling and paradoxically as a “lubricant” facilitating engagement with sports betting, depending on the interplay of religious culture, service attendance frequency, and gender dynamics. The concept of religiosity as a linear deterrent to sports gambling behaviors oversimplifies the variegated lived experiences of American adults navigating competing cultural imperatives.
Methodologically, the research leverages survey-based quantitative analyses on a nationally representative sample, including controls for education, race/ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation, which all contribute to the multi-dimensional lens through which gambling patterns are viewed. This multi-variable approach strengthens the validity of the findings and contextualizes the religious factors within broader societal determinants, providing a holistic picture of the sociocultural milieu influencing sports gambling.
The temporal coincidence of the data collection with the post-legalization environment of sports betting renders this study particularly timely. Since the 2018 Supreme Court decision struck down the federal ban on sports betting, states have rapidly adopted regulations permitting sportsbooks, fueling a booming industry that now processes over $150 billion in annual wagers nationwide. Understanding how religious groups navigate this new legal and cultural terrain provides invaluable insight for policymakers, public health officials, and advocates aiming to mitigate potential harms from gambling, especially among vulnerable populations.
Importantly, the study recognizes the limitations inherent in its design, particularly in disentangling causality from correlation. Although religious affiliation and participation correlate with varied gambling behaviors, the mechanisms of influence—whether through moral teachings, social networks, cultural identity, or other psychosocial pathways—remain to be precisely delineated. The authors propose that those “halfway in and halfway out” of religious communities may experience particular vulnerabilities or ambivalences that impact gambling choices, suggesting fruitful directions for future qualitative research.
Gender emerges as a critical axis of analysis throughout this investigation, with clear evidence that men gamble on sports more than women and do so with higher stakes. However, religious affiliation moderates these gender differences, as seen with Catholic respondents, where men’s gambling rates greatly exceed women’s. These patterns point to the intersectionality of identity factors shaping moral behavior and risk engagement, underlining the inadequacy of one-dimensional analyses that treat religion or gender in isolation.
The cultural acceptance of sports betting also infiltrates the moral fabric of religious communities in subtle ways. The research authors discuss how infrequent worship attendees may occupy a liminal space where religious prohibitions hold limited sway, leaving individuals more susceptible to the societal normalization of sports gambling. This nuanced dynamic highlights how religious institutions and leaders might critically evaluate their engagement strategies and messaging around gambling, balancing doctrine with lived realities to promote healthier behaviors.
As sports gambling continues its rapid expansion fueled by technological advances, media saturation, and legal liberalization, sociological insights such as these gain urgency. The confluence of religion, gender, and gambling behavior represents a complex and evolving social frontier where entrenched beliefs meet emerging cultural practices. Ongoing dialogue among scholars, practitioners, faith leaders, and communities will be essential to crafting informed interventions that respect cultural contexts while addressing public health concerns related to gambling.
Ultimately, the study by Knoester and Upenieks challenges reductive stereotypes about religion’s role in curbing vice, revealing a more intricate mosaic of influence marked by ambivalence, differential norms across denominations, gendered behaviors, and fluctuating degrees of religious engagement. It provides a crucial empirical foundation for expanding conversations about how faith communities intersect with contemporary leisure activities, thereby shaping moral economies in the twenty-first century.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: Sanctified Bets? Religiosity, Gender, and Sports Gambling in the United States
News Publication Date: 28-Apr-2026
Web References:
- Sociology of Sport Journal DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2025-0136
- National Sports and Society Survey: https://nsass.org/
- American Population Panel: https://americanpopulationpanel.org/social-media-site/
- Ohio State Sports and Society Initiative: https://sportsandsociety.osu.edu/
References: Knoester, C., & Upenieks, L. (2026). Sanctified Bets? Religiosity, Gender, and Sports Gambling in the United States. Sociology of Sport Journal. DOI: 10.1123/ssj.2025-0136
Image Credits: Not provided
Keywords: sports gambling, religion, religiosity, Catholicism, gender differences, U.S. Supreme Court, gambling behavior, sociological survey, leisure activities, moral norms
