Siena poll details the pervasiveness of online sports betting nationwide

The boom in online sports gambling and its impact — especially among younger men — is detailed in a new poll released Monday that shows just how rapidly the business has spread.

A Siena College/St. Bonaventure University survey of more than 3,000 U.S. residents last month and ahead of the upcoming Super Bowl found:

• Almost 1 in 5 U.S. residents have an online betting account.
• The bulk of online betting is done by younger people. Men under 50 years old account for 57% and women under 50, 27%.
• Almost 1 in 3 who bet say they open the gambling “app” on their smartphone more than any other applications, such as texts and emails.
• 70% of those have an account with an online sportsbook opened it within the last two years.
• Overconfident? 80% of those who bet say they believe can win money.

Don Levy, director of the Siena College poll, said many of the results are not surprising, given the flood of sports betting ads, the discussion of betting odds on sports shows and the proliferation of smartphones.

“With 75% of Americans saying they’ve seen ads for online sportsbooks, it’s not surprising that 1 in 5 have an account,” Levy said. “Bettors say it’s fun, and a plurality of all Americans ... agree that online sports betting is a great form of entertainment allowing fans to gamble responsibly.”

But there are red flags, too.

“Nearly 40% of bettors have felt ashamed about their gambling, or bet more than they should, and 1 in 5 have lost money they needed or lied to someone about their betting,” Levy said. “That’s not a majority, but it’s definitely a lot of people.”

Danger? That’s for the other guys: A plurality in the survey said sports betting isn’t dangerous as long you have a system to control your gambling.

Yet at the same time a strong majority say the government should aggressively regulate online sports betting to protect customers from compulsive gambling.

“Folks who say as long as you have a system and you control your betting, it’s just entertainment and it’s fine,” Levy said. “But there is certainly the recognition that somebody else has a problem.”

In fact, 15% of everyone surveyed — not just those who bet — said they know someone with a gambling problem, Levy said.

Also not surprising: Use of gambling “apps” has spread mostly in the last two years; exotic or “get even” betting is prevalent, and older people don’t do online sports gambling nearly as much as the young.

Among other findings:

• 63% who bet have more than one online sportsbook account — with most saying the “free” money offered to open an account was a factor.
• Losing a bet, then wagering more to get back to even — called “chasing” bets — is something 53% of those with an online sportsbook account have tried.
• 83% of those who placed bets online say they’ve pursued “parlays,” which involve small bets on a series of propositions all working out for a big payoff (for example, the Knicks, Mets and Jets all winning titles in the same year).
• People 50 years old or older account for 15% of the online sports gambling, the survey said.

The Siena/St. Bonaventure poll of 3,071 U.S. residents was conducted Jan. 2-7. Survey questions have a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points, meaning the results to each question could vary higher or lower by that amount.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy