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About This Sports Industry Report
SPORTS BETTING
Fastest Growing Segment of U.S. Sports Industry
The following summary of our Sports Industry Report on Sports Betting is the result of an intensive search of the most current, relevant and credible data sources on this topic. Woven into the analysis are a number of videos and exhibits highlighting the growth and impact of sports gambling around the globe and its positive and negative impacts on the sports industry.
Countries in every region of the world offer legal, government-regulated sports betting. This report examines the significant variation in the types of sports betting allowed from one country or region to another. In regions such as Asia, where sports gambling is illegal or severely restricted in many countries, millions wager on off-shore, unregulated sports betting sites.
In 2023, global sports annual revenues reported by IBIS World on legal betting sites totaled $261 billion in U.S. dollars. This amount was down from the all-time pre-COVID epidemic high of $281 billion in 2018. At the same time that global sports betting is slowly recovering from the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, sports gambling has become the fastest growing segment of the sports industry in the U.S. The legalization of sports betting by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 opened the proverbial floodgates. Over the past 5 years, Americans have spent $317 billion legally wagering on a wide range of state-regulated on-line betting services (sportsbooks) and in-person casinos or betting parlors. By 2023, sports gambling revenues reached $124.5 billion, accounting for nearly 48% of the world’s total.
Our report examines how major sports leagues in the U.S. have embraced sports betting as an abundant new revenue stream and as an opportunity to deepen fan engagement. Many teams have opened sportsbooks in their stadiums and arenas to integrate live betting into the sports venue experience. A recent survey of sports bettors found:
• 39.3 million placed a sports bet in the last 12 months
• 71% bet on sports at least once a week
• 20% bet on sports at least once a day
• Average bet is between $20-$35, less than 2% bet over $100
The report reveals the rapidly growing Sports Gambling Ecosystem in which major media companies like Disney-ESPN are competing for a share of the sports betting market with dominant sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings. In 2023, the thousands of sportsbooks in casinos, sports parlors and on-line betting services spent $35 billion advertising on sports TV and digital platforms.
Finally, the report investigates the dark side of sports gambling in which millions, primarily young men, in the U.S. and globally are struggling with gambling addiction. While many countries with more mature sports betting systems have imposed restrictions on sports gambling advertising, in the U.S., the many stakeholders of sports betting continue to spend billions of dollars promoting gambling on TV and in nearly every professional sports venue.
Sports Industry Report
Contents
CONTENTS
Sports Betting
“In time, the expansion of legal wagering will drive fan engagement and in turn, viewership and will become a growth category for sports advertising at both the national and local levels.”
– Eric Shanks, Head of Fox Sports.
The Best-Howard Model relies on several reputable sources, including IBISWorld, American Gambling Association and Statista, to estimate a credible sports wagering revenue.
However, each measures and reports annual sports betting revenues differently. Statista and the American Gambling Association report the amount wagered on sports annually, known as the handle (1). IBISWorld reports net total sports betting revenues, in which the analyst deducts the amount kept by gambling operators (e.g., casinos and online betting services) after paying winners (2). The result, known as the hold, amounts to about 8% of total wagered revenues (3).
In Figure 2.3, the IBISWorld net annual revenue figures were converted into annual gross estimates, including the standard 8% hold. For the U.S., the actual handle or total amount wagered annually by sports bettors was used (4). In 2023, the global handle totaled $261.4 billion. Sports gambling in the U.S. in 2023 increased to an estimated $124.5 billion, accounting for nearly 48% of the world’s total.
Copyright 2024 The Business of Sports
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Sports Betting
FIGURE 2.3
The Best-Howard Model
Legal sports betting reached an all-time high of $281.7 billion in 2019, but suffered significant losses during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021 (Figure 2.3). During this period, sports leagues and events around the world cancelled games and limited attendance. The robust sports gambling industry in the United Kingdom lost nearly $2 billion from March 2020 to March 2021, largely as a result of the forced closing of thousands of retail gambling establishments (5). Overall, sports betting revenues fell nearly $40 billion dollars over 2020 and 2021.