Online sports betting has exploded into American high schools and teachers are watching it happen in real time. In November 2025, NGPF surveyed more than 1,000 teachers across the country to understand what educators are seeing in their classrooms. The results are alarming, and they underscore why financial education, including understanding the difference between investing and gambling, has never been more urgent.

• "I teach almost all seniors. They all are gambling on either professional or college sports (football right now as that is the season)."

• "I see this as the next big addiction issue in America."
• "Several of the boys had to leave their phones at my desk because they could not stay off it due to gambling."
• "Concerning how this impacts student mental health, personal relationships, and financial standing."

1. Sports betting (82% of teachers believe it is common among students)
2. Online casino games (32%)
3. "Skins" gambling in video games (19.6%)
4. "Loot Boxes" in video games (19.1%)
5. Esports betting (16%)
6. Prediction markets (10%)

• "Students are VERY interested in gambling, even at a 7th grade level."
• "Parents are allowing students to use their social security number."
• "It’s bigger around Super Bowl time, March madness, and stuff like that."
• "I believe it's predominantly boys who are engaged in this activity."
• "FOMO apps for crypto - not exactly gambling but similar."
• "My students play video games online, I believe this is how their type of gambling takes place."
• "It's crazy to me because many of the kids involved are not 18. Where is the accountability on the producers of these apps?"

• Format: Google Form open from Nov 13 to Nov 21, 2025
• Sample: 1,004 unique U.S. teachers responded from 47 states
• School types: 87% public school, 7% private, 4% alternative, 1.4% post-secondary/adult
• Grade levels: 98% high school or below
• To keep the survey brief, we did not ask other demographic questions

Why this matters

As prediction markets migrate onto investing platforms, NGPF founder Tim Ranzetta worries a critical distinction is getting lost for young people: "Gambling is a zero sum game where every dollar won comes from another player's loss, with the house skimming off the top. Young people deserve to know the difference. The data makes the policy gap impossible to ignore: More states have legalized sports betting than require students to learn the difference between a bet and an investment."

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

Christian Sherrill

Former teacher, forever financial education nerd. As NGPF's Director of Teacher Success, Christian is laser-focused on helping the heroic teachers who fuel NGPF's mission to guarantee all students a life-changing personal finance course. Having paid down over $40k in student loans in the span of 3 years - while living in the Bay Area on an entry level teacher's salary - he's eager to help the next generation avoid financial pitfalls one semester at a time.