Over Half Of Gen Z Investors Have Shifted Money Into Sports Betting
More than half of Gen Z investors say they have redirected money originally earmarked for investing into sports betting at some point in the past year, according to Fortune's reporting on Betterment's 2026 Retail Investor Survey, a nationally fielded poll of 1,000 US investors.
The survey found 52% of Gen Z investors have shifted money from planned investments into sports wagers, and 14% say they do this multiple times a month.
More strikingly, 26% describe sports betting as part of a deliberate, ongoing financial strategy, compared with just 14% of Millennials, 6% of Gen X, and 1% of Baby Boomers.
AI Is Blurring The Line Between Investing And Betting
The same survey found Gen Z is also the generation most willing to let artificial intelligence influence real financial decisions: 48% say AI has already shaped a financial decision they made, and 41% say they are comfortable using AI for long-term financial planning. Among Baby Boomers, both figures sit at just 5%.
Sportsbooks have leaned into that comfort with AI-personalized experiences, offering tailored odds, previews, and prop-bet suggestions built on a user's betting history.
A cottage industry of standalone AI betting assistants has emerged alongside them, functioning for bettors roughly the way a robo-advisor functions for investors.
Dan Egan: 'Budget It As Entertainment'
Dan Egan, Betterment's vice president of behavioral finance and investing, drew a clear line between a legitimate leisure activity and a genuine financial risk.
“The fact that young people are sports betting isn't necessarily a negative thing, as long as they are budgeting it as entertainment”, Egan said.
That distinction matters: sports betting in the US has grown into a nearly $17 billion industry, up from roughly $400 million in 2018, with bettors across every generation recovering an average of less than 75 cents for every dollar wagered.
The Financial Stakes Are Real For Some Bettors
The survey's findings sit alongside wider research on betting-related financial strain.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has linked the spread of legalized sports betting to rising delinquency and bankruptcy rates in states that adopted it earliest, and a 2025 U.S. News survey found a quarter of sports bettors had missed a bill because of wagering, with 30% taking on debt to fund their betting.
For bettors who want to keep wagering firmly in the entertainment column, setting a fixed budget separate from investment savings and using an operator's deposit-limit tools remains the clearest way to apply Egan's advice in practice.
Readers can compare regulated US sportsbooks and their responsible-gambling tools before placing a wager.
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