Sports betting is a type of gambling that refers to the activity of placing a wager on the outcome of a sporting event. Events on which wagers are made could be anything from more traditional activities like horse or dog racing to sports such as
. Bets are typically made through bookmakers, also known as sportsbooks. These operate both as land-based establishments, for example, at casinos or betting shops, and online. The total amount of money wagered by bettors is known as a handle, while the amount of money earned by a sportsbook after paying out the winners is revenue. In 2022, the
amounted to 235.46 billion U.S. dollars.
Where is the biggest sports betting market in the world?
While the global market is large and lucrative, sports betting is still not legal everywhere. Furthermore, the countries that do offer legal sports betting also offer many other types of gambling. For these reasons, it is often difficult to definitively identify the market leader when it comes to sports betting alone. Of the
leading gambling companies worldwide, the top company, bet365, was based in the United Kingdom, while Genting and Wynn Resorts, were based in Malaysia and the United States, respectively. All three companies reported a brand value of over three billion U.S. dollars in 2022, with bet365 exceeding the four billion dollar mark that year. Although gambling markets are often based around
casino and lottery games, the sports betting sector has been growing in popularity across the world. In 2022, the
gross revenue from the Macao soccer sports lottery alone totaled 386 million Macao patacas. The same year, the
total sports betting revenue in the U.S. reached 7.56 billion U.S. dollars.
What is the preferred method of betting on sports?
One of the major gambling trends in recent years has been the rise of online betting. In the United States alone, sports bettors are nearly three times
more likely to place their bets online rather than in person. Accordingly, the
number of online sports bettors in the United States was forecast to rise from around 25 million in 2022 to nearly 37 million by 2025, representing an increase of 47 percent. However, this turn to online betting has by no means been confined to the United States or sports betting, with the
market size of the global online gambling industry reaching 63.53 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and being expected to rise to over 184 billion U.S. dollars by 2032.
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