Gen Zers plow money away from stocks into gambling

• Gen Zers are taking more out of their investment funds to support their sports betting habits
• The group is far more likely than any other demographic to say that they consider sports betting as part of their financial strategy
• Gen Zers are financially nihilistic, financial experts say, and this may play a role in their decisions

Betterment, a wealth-management platform, has taken a closer look at investors’ habits and has found that several particular demographics in America is beginning to show what the platform believes are unwise long-term financial decisions.

Gen Zers take money out of their investment portfolios to bet on sports

According to the platform, Gen Zers tend to be redirecting money away from traditional financial instruments into sports betting, with this specific demographic exhibiting the highest levels of such behavior.

Out of the overall sample of 1,000 interviewed people, Betterment found that 12% of investors treated sports betting as part of their long-term financial strategy. While the sample wasn’t huge, it still hinted at an unfolding trend among young people and tracks with what financial advisors have commented on as well for a while.

Back to the survey, 24% of the total also ended up directing their investing guns to sports betting.

Gen X and Boomers were the least likely to consider sports betting as part of their long-term financial strategy, with 6% and 1% respectively doing so. 14% of Millennials seemed to be considering sports betting a part of their financial strategy, but the number rose sharply when Gen Zers were involved, with 26% of this group saying that they did.

In other words, more than 1 in 4 Gen Zers were toying with sports betting as part of their long-term financial strategy. Millennials and Gen Zers were also very likely to actually be taking out money that would have otherwise been invested and plowing it into sports betting.

A zero-sum game, but economic nihilism may be driving the behavior

More than half of Gen Zers (52%) reported having done so, meaning that over half of the demographic is burning through investment funds to support their sports betting habit. In the case of Millennials, this percentage was still very high, about 31%, but far below the numbers demonstrated by Gen Zers.

Part of this could be down to the fact that Gen Zers tend to be very pessimistic about the economy, and they become more irresponsible with their money, as if to defy this.

Financial advisors have commented that the stock market is a safe overall investment path, with one’s net worth continuously accumulating, whereas sports betting tends to be what experts described as a "zero-sum game" where fees and uncertain outcomes contribute to a negative net outcome for most participants.

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