{"id":684,"date":"2026-03-10T16:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/?p=684"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:28:07","slug":"younger-americans-turning-to-prediction-markets-sports-betting-to-shore-up-finances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/younger-americans-turning-to-prediction-markets-sports-betting-to-shore-up-finances\/","title":{"rendered":"Younger Americans Turning to Prediction Markets, Sports Betting to Shore Up Finances"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Northwestern Mutual survey says these demographics are embracing prediction markets, sports betting to play financial catch-up<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Asset manager says they\u2019re playing with fire<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Gen Z and millennials are increasingly turning to high-risk, speculative asset classes and market segments in an effort to shore up their finances, potentially inviting more problems along the way.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_319297\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-319297\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-319297 size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"sports betting taxes gambling\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/via-GettyImages-gamb-858x572-1.jpg\"><figcaption>Bettors at a sportsbook. Young Americans are turning to prediction markets and sports betting to boost their finances. (Image: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Northwestern Mutual, which notes younger Americans are playing fire, says Gen Z and millnennials are increasingly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/prediction-markets-sports-betting-thorns-in-bitcoins-side\/\">turning to cryptocurrency<\/a>, prediction markets, and sports wagering as avenues for shoring up their personal financial pictures.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>Gen Z and Millennials make up the largest share of Americans who are investing in \u2013 or are considering investing in \u2013 high-risk speculative assets this year. These young adults demonstrate the strongest interest in cryptocurrencies, sports betting, and event-based contracts offered through prediction markets,\u201d according to the asset manager.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The firm\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/edge.prnewswire.com\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=4634763-1&amp;h=185263915&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.northwesternmutual.com%2Fplanning-and-progress-study-2026&amp;a=2026+Planning+%26+Progress+Study\">2026 Planning &amp; Progress Study<\/a> notes that just 24% of Americans investing in cryptocurrency and 17% dabble in prediction markets or sports wagering, but those percentages jump to 32% across both categories among Gen Z and 35% and 24%, respectively, among millennials.<\/p>\n<h2>Financial Nihilism Setting In<\/h2>\n<p>Whether they realize it or not, Americans embracing riskier assets because they feel behind financially are engaging in a form of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ai-prone-to-problem-betting-patterns-even-addictive-behavior-says-study\/\">the gambler\u2019s fallacy<\/a> because they\u2019re taking on more risk to make up for past events or mistakes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cAcross generations, a driving factor behind why people are taking greater risks with these investments is because they feel financially behind,\u201d adds Northwestern Mutual.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>The survey also points out that the percentage of Americans \u201cwho feel financially behind and believe high-risk\/speculative investments will help reach \u00a0financial goals more effectively than traditional methods\u201d is 73% in aggregate, but it rises to 80% for Gen Z and 75% for millennials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Northwestern Mutual study was published at time when next-generation brokerage firms, prediction markets, and sportsbook operators are all dealing with accusations that they\u2019re targeting young, potentially vulnerable demographics while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/better-markets-says-prediction-markets-are-gambling-in-disguise\/\">blurring the lines between<\/a> betting and investing in the process.<\/p>\n<h2>Betting, PMs Aren\u2019t Great Ways to Make Money<\/h2>\n<p>Amid sticky inflation, stagnant wages, and onerous student loan obligations, it\u2019s understandable that many younger Americans feel as though they\u2019re not where they need or want to be financially. However, data confirm prediction markets and sports betting aren\u2019t elixirs for achieving financial goals.<\/p>\n<p>If anything, those outlets can exacerbate fiscal woes because data confirm only a scant percentage of sports bettors are profitable over the long run and most retail traders on prediction markets lose money. In fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kalshi-disputes-data-showing-new-users-lose-faster-than-on-sportsbooks\/\">some new Kalshi users lose<\/a> money more rapidly on that platform than they do when wagering on sports through traditional sportsbooks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWhen people feel behind, they often look for shortcuts,\u201d said John Roberts, Northwestern Mutual&#8217;s chief field officer, in a statement. \u201cThese high-risk assets can be fun to play with, but that&#8217;s why we recommend only spending &#8216;fun money&#8217; on them. Don&#8217;t allocate more than you can afford to lose completely and focus your planning on strategies that have been proven to help people build and protect wealth over the long-term.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/younger-americans-turning-to-prediction-markets-sports-betting-to-shore-up-finances\/\">Younger Americans Turning to Prediction Markets, Sports Betting to Shore Up Finances<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northwestern Mutual survey says these demographics are embracing prediction markets, sports betting to play financial catch-up Asset manager says they\u2019re playing with fire Gen Z and millennials are increasingly turning to high-risk, speculative asset classes and market segments in an effort to shore up their finances, potentially inviting more problems along the way. Bettors at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":687,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions\/687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}