Bloomberg Surveillance · Friday, August 14, 2026
A growing segment of Gen Z investors is considering sports betting as a legitimate alternative to traditional investing, with one in four viewing it as a deliberate component of their long-term financial plans. This trend is fueled by the expansion of sports betting platforms and prediction markets, which are branding themselves as investment tools. Financial experts, however, express concern, noting that over the long term, approximately 95% of individuals lose money on these platforms, questioning the sustainability of this approach.
“So one in four gen Z investors actually consider sports betting as part of their deliberate, ongoing component of their long term financial plans. And I think this really is related to how fast sports betting industry has grown, and along with it, it's the prediction market's rapid expansion where companies kind of brand themselves as investing platforms, and this is changing how Gen Z and younger Americans are thinking about wealth building and financial planning.”
“Yeah, that's what they say. And we talked to some long term sports betters actually, and they said they've gotten increasingly analytical in their approaches. They would do research on sports teams and then they would like maybe section off a part of their money to just put in sports betting.”
“That's a really good question. Is actually, over the long term, consistent profitters off these platforms are the top maybe one or two five percent. Okay, so let's be charitables. Five percent. You're telling me ninety five percent of people lose money and we're calling it a financial plan of our personal finance.”