The Koi Pond is NinetyEight’s proprietary research community with over 2000+ Gen Z participants. Learn more about The Koi Pond here.
How do you strike fear in a sports fan's heart? Easy, just say: “This segment was brought to you by DraftKings.” Or “New customers bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win.” Or “Polymarket predicts that—” we could go on forever. That’s the sound of sportsbooks, prediction markets, and other gambling sites and apps taking over sporting events. In 2025, NHL fans were exposed to a gambling message every 13 seconds as they watched the Stanley Cup finals, translating to 6,282 messages across the whole series, according to a report by the University of Bristol. Even within our own Gen Z community, The Koi Pond, 83.9% of respondents have encountered a sports betting ad online. This begs the question: how did gambling become so normalized?
From the perspective of Gen Z, it shouldn’t be surprising. Our world has become increasingly gamblified (is that a word?). Getting a job is essentially a dice roll. Tickets for any event now operate on lottery systems. Even the little knick-knacks that keep us pacified are now mixed together, wrapped in opaque plastic, stuffed into identical tamperproof boxes as a game of chance. As Delilah, 2000 from the Koi Pond put it best: “Gen Z has been locked out of traditional methods of class mobility so when they see their favorite creators gambling and being successful, they want to try and get successful. Additionally gambling is good at giving short term joy.”
Even looking at the long term, things we considered to be “stable” or guaranteed are seemingly starting to fall apart. Social Security is on the brink of drying up. “Once in a lifetime” economic shocks are hitting the stock market every single year. And we somehow moved from “housing prices are kinda high” to potentially witnessing the collapse of the US petrodollar within a couple of weeks. Yeah, the financial outlook on life doesn’t seem that great in Gen Z’s eyes. Investing in the future seems completely pointless. When tech companies are burning a cool $226 million a day gambling on making AI a thing, dropping $10 bucks on a parlay you’re “sure is going to hit this time” almost feels moral in comparison. The question of gambling for Gen Z changes from “why?” to “why not?”
That may explain why in our Koi Pond, 64.5% of Gen Z respondents have gambled before compared to the national average of 57%, with 26.6% of Gen Z gamblers placing a sports bet or participating in a betted fantasy league compared to 21% of all US adults.
But it’s not just motivation and interest driving Gen Z to gamble. Access is key to getting Gen Z to gamble, with the the lottery usually being the easiest entry point. Today, online betting and betting apps have made it easier than ever to start, circumventing the need to even get out of bed to bet. Beyond the sheer prevalence and variety of apps, the simplified UI design, the FOMO offers, and the absence of getting threatened have set this new generation of betting platforms apart from the shady betting and gambling websites of the past. As a result, 31.6% of our Gen Z gamblers are now betting online first.
Despite all the circumstances, Gen Z as a generation isn’t exactly losing big: the average amount our Gen Z gamblers have lost to betting is around $65, essentially a tank of gas in today’s prices (less if you’re in California). We simply don’t have enough to gamble in the first place to really make or break our finances. Additionally, only 35% of Gen Z respondents are gambling with the explicit goal of making money. The majority see gambling as a form of entertainment or a way to socialize with friends. When Gen Z’s limits are: “My boundary is maybe $10” (Danny, 2002), “one blind box per month” (Jianxi, 2003), and “I WONT spend more than $5 on a lotto ticket. If it's money I could use to get someone in need a hot meal. I don't want the ticket.” (Minnie, 2007), it’s safe to say that for the majority of Gen Z, the gambling money is purely disposable, and when compared to other forms of entertainment, it just isn’t worth it. But regardless of whether Gen Z gambles or not, we pretty much all agree on one thing. 91.4% of Gen Z’s would want to see more regulation surrounding gambling ads. Between the predatory messaging to the sheer number of ads we encounter on a daily basis, we are collectively over hearing about prop bets and parlays on our feeds.
It’s unclear what the future of gambling will be, only that it will continue to be. Prediction markets continue to gain traction. Broadcast networks have introduced their own betting platforms and are raking in profits. Even scrolling through social media is completely at the odds of the algorithm. Gambling for Gen Z may become a life-long battle of attrition between the numerous circumstances encouraging them to gamble, and our generation’s willpower and aversion not to. Despite the absolute financial success it’s bringing brands, Gen Z’s are burning out of the constant gambling loop, and brands are starting to recognize it.
In the oversaturated gacha gaming space, new games like Duet Night Abyss and Ananta are removing the infamous gambling system as a core game mechanic and instead limiting it to cosmetics only. Labubu’s, the poster child of blind boxes, are now being sold off by the collection online. Markets are crashing for Pokémon Cards, virtual weapon skins, and other collector items just like it has during the hypebeast era. For any industry where gambling and chance has become normalized, new brands are taking advantage and offering guarantees to Gen Zs. And as we look toward the future, perhaps the newest “innovation” to come will simply be the ability to choose, back in the customer’s hands.
Anyways: Let’s Go Gambling!
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