Sports betting has always been a popular form of gaming, and to this day it dominates the charts with the number of users it has. Sports are very important to people and some even say they are the most important of unimportant things in life. Viewers often like to put their money where their mouth is, and support their favorite team by betting on the outcome of the match. Ever since this service became available online the iGaming industry started to grow rapidly and the revenue just continues to increase. Sports betting sites and online casinos are common ways for users to place wagers. However, these two are not necessarily the same because regulators all over the world make a clear distinction between sports betting and casino content.
Sports Betting In Online Casino
As stated in order for a website to provide both sports betting and casino games the site needs to have separate licenses. What this means is that the country you live in needs to allow both online sports betting and casino games, in order for operators to pursue relevant licenses.
This is why you might see a recognizable operator who has both options, but if you visit its site in another country only sports betting or only casino games will be available. Moreover, many of the real money casino sites are required to have a physical presence in a country where they wish to offer their services. As a result, they need to adjust their content to correspond to the regulations in that region. This means it’s very difficult to get the exact numbers or determine which sports betting option is more popular if we only look at online casinos.
Still, many users prefer to have an account on a website where they have access to both sports betting and online casino games. These are mostly sites available in European countries as only a few states in the US allow for internet casino entertainment. So, let’s see what are the most popular sports in the betting world.
Soccer
Soccer is the most profitable and popular sport around the globe, and as such, it is very attractive to gambling sponsors. In the UK, the Premier League clubs are deeply entrenched in gambling entertainment and the majority of their funding comes from these sponsorship deals. As a result, we see their brand names on soccer jerseys quite frequently, and you can only imagine how much profit is involved here since these sponsorship deals are quite generous.
To give you a better understanding let’s examine the situation this way. Around one-third of the global population has gambled at least once, and this number is constantly on the rise. It is also difficult to ascertain the exact number of regular and casual gamblers, but let’s transfer this to football followers. Currently, there are around 3.5 billion viewers of football, and if we assume that a third of those viewers are gamblers you get a number that is around 1.2 billion users. So, it’s easy to understand why this industry is so huge. Other popular sports in terms of viewers or followers are:
- Cricket – Around 2.5 billion
- Basketball – Around 2.4 billion
- Hockey – Around 2 billion
- Tennis – Around 1 billion
We also have eSports which are the newest form of competition and the younger audience really finds it attractive.
Basketball
Soccer is not that popular in the US as they prefer American football, but basketball is almost universally loved, especially in the US. So, it’s no surprise that when betting is concerned basketball is right after soccer. First of all, there are matches played all over the world all year long, and a single basketball match is a lot shorter. Meaning anyone who wants to place wagers does so more frequently. Since it’s so huge in the US there are many celebrity athletes that are famous all over the world, and having global supporters means a bigger market for gambling as well.
Cricket
Cricket might have more viewers than basketball, but that doesn’t translate into more bettors as well. It is also a fast-paced game loved by Australians, Indians, and British people, however, the rules for cricket are not as straightforward as with some other sports. So, it’s not something a novice bettor will take into consideration, because it’s difficult for them to figure out who is having the upper hand in the match.
Boxing and MMA
Source: Unsplash
Source: Unsplash
Fighting sports started to gain more momentum recently mainly due to the rise of UFC. This also increased the popularity of boxing. In reality, these are the most exacting matches to spectate, and viewers love to place wagers on who will win. Once again, it is easy to follow and to figure out the rules, as the guy who is left standing is most likely the winner unless disqualified.
Conclusion
It’s difficult to gauge which sport brings the most profits to the bookies. The only obvious choice is football, but after that, it really becomes region-specific. Moreover, countries are still in the process of the legalization of online gambling, so these numbers change frequently. In all likelihood, the stats won’t remain the same over the course of the next 10 years. By that time eSports will likely become more dominant as well since more of the younger generation are turning 18 and they are more likely to bet on that content.
