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Points of Focus
- 52% of Gen Z investors redirected money intended for investing into sports betting.
- 26% consider sports betting a deliberate part of their long-term financial strategy.
- US sportsbooks retained approximately $17 billion from $167 billion wagered last year.
More than half of Gen Z investors have redirected money intended for investments toward sports betting, highlighting how gambling is increasingly competing with stocks and retirement accounts for younger Americans’ capital.
Betterment’s 2026 Retail Investor Survey found that 52% of Gen Z respondents moved investment funds into sports betting during the previous year. More strikingly, 26% described betting as a deliberate component of their long-term financial strategy.
The survey covered 1,000 US retail investors across four generations. It was conducted between March 27 and April 3, with respondents required to hold at least one qualifying financial investment.
Betting becomes part of Gen Z’s wealth strategy
Younger investors were far more likely than older generations to treat sports betting as financial planning.
While 26% of Gen Z included wagering in their long-term strategy, the proportion fell to 14% among Millennials, 6% for Generation X, and just 1% for Baby Boomers.
Gen Z is moving money from stocks to sports betting in wealth plans, 52% of them have redirected inv funds to sports betting and quarter of them treat sports betting as a deliberate part of their long-term financial plan, according to survey from Betterment. Wow. pic.twitter.com/SVjn0PTB92
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) August 12, 2026
Betterment CEO Sarah Levy warned that sportsbooks and prediction markets are designed to encourage users to pursue the next immediate win, not to build wealth over decades.
The distinction matters because investment assets may compound and generate long-term returns, although those gains are never guaranteed. Sportsbooks, by comparison, structure odds to preserve an advantage for the operator.
A $17-billion industry competes with investing
Legal US sportsbooks retained approximately $17 billion from $167 billion wagered last year, up from around $430 million in 2018. Sports betting is now legal in 39 states, making mobile wagering readily accessible to much of the population.
That growth means sportsbooks increasingly compete with brokerages, savings products and retirement plans for disposable income.
Gen Z keeps leverage low.
Most Gen Z accounts avoid leveraged/inverse products—88.2% in TradFi‑Perps and 98.9% in bStocks.
And when used, leverage is the smallest share of their volume pic.twitter.com/qLxXk757Aj
— Binance (@binance) August 12, 2026
The overlap is also becoming more visible within financial apps. Robinhood, a platform widely used by younger investors, introduced prediction markets in 2025 and later described event contracts as its fastest-growing business.
When investing, prediction markets and sports betting appear within similar smartphone interfaces; the products can begin to feel interchangeable despite having different risks and expected outcomes.
Social media and AI reshape financial decisions
A Binance survey found that 60% of Gen Z investors use social media for financial news, up from 45% in 2024. Only 21% identified financial advisers as a source.
Artificial intelligence is also influencing decisions. Although just 31% of respondents across all generations trusted AI-generated financial guidance, 53% of those who trusted it said AI had changed a decision they otherwise would not have made. Among Gen Z specifically, 48% said AI had influenced a financial choice.
Gen $Z isn't waiting for tradfi to open anymore
Bstocks just crossed $500m in aum seven weeks after launch and the number that actually matters is buried in the data
Gen Z makes up 44% of all bstocks trading activity the single largest age group on the platformGen Z accounts… https://t.co/Aa3wdBc0u7
— LeBause (@LeBause4200) August 13, 2026
Betterment’s findings suggest younger investors are navigating an increasingly blurred environment in which financial education, digital entertainment, and speculation share the same feeds and devices.
Betting within a fixed entertainment budget is different from diverting retirement contributions or investment capital. The emerging concern is not simply that Gen Z is wagering more; it is that a significant share increasingly views gambling as a credible route to long-term wealth.
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