Key Findings

• Latino fans are becoming a major force in the U.S. sports economy. Their growing cultural influence, engagement, and spending power are creating significant opportunities for leagues, media companies, sponsors, and betting platforms, raising an important question about whether that growth will build wealth with Latino communities or extract value from them.
• Sports betting participation among Latinos remains relatively low, but the financial consequences can be significant. About 9% of Latino respondents reported betting through at least one channel, compared with 11% of non-Latinos, yet 11% of Latino bettors reported a very negative financial impact compared with just 1% of non-Latino bettors.
• Online and mobile betting can increase financial risk by making wagering faster, easier, and more frequent. Online bettors are more likely to bet repeatedly, use more complex products, spend more, and report difficulty paying bills, creating particular risks for households focused on saving, reducing debt, improving credit, and buying a home.
• Consumer protections must keep pace with the rapid growth of sports betting. Policymakers and industry leaders should address misleading promotions, credit-funded deposits, repeated betting prompts, difficult-to-understand products, weak spending controls, and uneven access to Spanish-language disclosures and assistance.

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