Young American Men Are BLOWING Their Money Like NEVER Before...

This shift has been a boon for a range of businesses, from sportsbooks to investment apps, capitalizing on the growing willingness to gamble.

The normalization of gambling in the U.S. is staggering. In 2023, Americans legally wagered a record $119.84 billion on sports, a significant increase from $93 billion in 2022. The Supreme Court's 2018 decision to overturn a federal law prohibiting sports gambling has led to over three dozen states embracing it in some form. Additionally, seven states have legalized iGaming, which includes online blackjack, roulette, and slot machines.

Free trading apps like Robinhood have also contributed to the trend, encouraging ordinary people to invest for fun, to alleviate boredom, or to make extra cash. While some users have built stable portfolios, many are engaging in high-risk day trading or investing in meme stocks like GameStop, AMC, or Donald Trump's newly public social-media company. Cryptocurrency is also making a comeback, with many no longer pretending that the endeavor is about anything other than "number go up."

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Data suggests that these trends are particularly prevalent among younger men. A 2023 NCAA survey found that sports gambling was prevalent among young adults, especially on college campuses and among Black and Latino respondents. Pew Research found in 2022 that men and people under 50 were likelier to bet on sports than women and the over-50 crowd. Younger men also tend to be more involved in crypto and meme-stock trading.

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This trend isn't surprising, as men generally take more financial risks than women. They are more prone to overconfidence, which often leads them to trade more and, as a result, get lower returns. Men generally gamble more than women and have been found to have lower levels of impulsive coping in gambling settings.

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The reasons behind this behavior are complex, according to Timothy Fong, a clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA and the codirector of its gambling-studies program. Cultural influences, biological risks, psychological risks, and social risk factors all play a part.

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The rise of technology has made it easier than ever to gamble, invest, and take financial risks. "The technology that brings us that intersection between gambling, gaming, investing, and financial risk, that technology barrier is so low right now," Fong said.

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However, this boom in gambling is not without its downsides. Problem-gambling behavior is increasing, especially among young men. A 2023 report on the prevalence of gambling in New Jersey found that men had double the rate of high-risk problem gambling than women and that those ages 18 to 44 were at the highest risk.

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Despite the risks, most people who gamble don't end up with an addiction. According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, some 2.5 million Americans have a severe gambling problem, and another 5 million to 8 million have a problem it considers mild or moderate.

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However, the explosion of playing so much with money in the U.S. is worrying, especially without a lot going on in the way of regulations, education, or safeguards to keep problem gambling in check. "The one question I'll ask folks, I'll say, 'Does this behavior make your life better, or does it create problems?'" Fong said.