---
type: source
title: "AIBM/Ipsos Poll: 61% of Americans View Prediction Markets as Gambling, 21% Familiar with the Concept"
author: "American Institute for Behavioral and Market Research / Ipsos"
url: https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/knowledge/society/prediction-markets-american-perception-2026
date: 2026-04-01
domain: internet-finance
secondary_domains: []
format: report
status: processed
processed_by: rio
processed_date: 2026-04-13
priority: high
tags: [prediction-markets, public-perception, gambling, regulation, survey, legitimacy, political-sustainability]
flagged_for_vida: ["gambling addiction intersection with prediction market growth data"]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

The American Institute for Behavioral and Market Research (AIBM) partnered with Ipsos to conduct a nationally representative survey (n=2,363 US adults) on attitudes toward prediction markets. Published approximately April 2026.

**Key findings:**
- 61% of respondents view prediction markets as "a form of gambling" (vs. investing, information aggregation, or research tools)
- 21% report familiarity with prediction markets as a concept
- 8% describe prediction markets as "a form of investing"
- Remaining respondents in intermediate or unfamiliar categories

**Demographic patterns (from summary):**
- Younger respondents (18-34) more likely to have used prediction markets
- College-educated respondents more likely to classify as "investing" vs. "gambling"
- No statistically significant partisan split on classification

**Context:**
Survey was conducted against backdrop of state-level crackdowns (Arizona criminal charges, Nevada TRO), CFTC ANPRM comment period, and growing media coverage of prediction market gambling addiction cases (Fortune investigation, April 10).

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** This is the political sustainability data for prediction markets. The mechanism design argument (Belief #2: markets beat votes) operates at the institutional level — markets aggregate information better than votes. But at the democratic level, if 61% of the public views prediction markets as gambling, this creates political pressure that regulatory framework debates cannot insulate against. An 89% CFTC-regulated market share doesn't matter if Congress reacts to constituent pressure by legislating gambling classifications.

**What surprised me:** The 21% familiarity figure is lower than I expected given $6B weekly volume (Fortune report). High volume + low familiarity = the user base is concentrated rather than distributed. This suggests prediction markets aren't building the broad public legitimacy base that would make them politically sustainable.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Partisan split data. I expected Republican voters (given Trump administration support for prediction markets) to classify them as investing at higher rates. The apparent absence of partisan gap suggests the gambling perception is not politically salient along party lines — which paradoxically makes it harder for the Trump administration to use constituent support as political cover.

**KB connections:**
- Directly challenges political sustainability dimension of Belief #6 (regulatory defensibility assumes legal mechanism, but democratic legitimacy is also a regulatory input)
- Connects to the Fortune gambling addiction investigation (April 10 archive) — 61% gambling perception + documented addiction cases = adverse media feedback loop
- Relates to Session 3 finding on state-level gaming classification as separate existential risk vector from CFTC/Howey test analysis

**Extraction hints:**
- "Prediction markets face a democratic legitimacy gap: 61% gambling classification despite CFTC regulatory approval" — this is a claim about structural vulnerability at the political layer
- "Prediction markets' information aggregation advantage is politically fragile: public gambling classification creates legislative override risk independent of mechanism quality"
- Note: The 79% non-familiarity figure suggests growth headroom but also means the political debate is being shaped before the product has won public trust

**Context:** AIBM is not a well-known research institute — worth flagging that this poll's methodology and funding source should be verified before using as high-confidence evidence. The Ipsos partnership adds methodological credibility (n=2,363, nationally representative), but AIBM's mission and potential advocacy role are unclear.

## Curator Notes
PRIMARY CONNECTION: "Decentralized mechanism design creates regulatory defensibility" — the 61% gambling perception is a political layer threat that operates outside the legal mechanism framework this belief relies on
WHY ARCHIVED: Quantifies the democratic legitimacy gap — the most politically durable form of regulatory risk
EXTRACTION HINT: Extract as evidence for "political sustainability" dimension of regulatory defensibility being separable from (and potentially undermining) the legal/mechanism defensibility dimension; confidence should be experimental given AIBM funding source uncertainty
