First Time for everything
BY THE NUMBERS
BiG LeaGUeS , BiG TRUST iSSUeS
The recent spate of gambling-related scandals in U . S . professional sports , including federal fraud charges for Shohei Ohtani ’ s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and the lifetime banning of MLB infielder Tucupita Marcano and NBA forward Jontay Porter , appear to have rubbed off negatively on U . S . sports fans .
According to a nationwide survey from aGamble . com with 1,205 participants , 57 percent of respondents indicated that they believe insider betting scandals are “ widespread ” among players and personnel . Just under half ( 49 percent ) said that if match-fixing was discovered to be widespread , they would stop watching sports altogether .
Broken down by league , a whopping 74 percent of respondents said they felt insider betting was rampant in the NBA . The NFL was second at 65 percent , followed by MLB at 43 percent and the NHL at 18 percent .
Regarding last year ’ s championship games , 36 percent of respondents said they felt the 2023 Super Bowl , a 25-22 overtime win for the Chiefs in Las Vegas , was affected by insider betting . The 2023 NBA Finals was second at 26 percent , and the 2023 World Series garnered 19 percent .
U . S . vs . Rest of World : First Time Depositors ( FTDs ) Growth Trend
First Time for everything
The May edition of the Optimove Insights Americas
Pulse Report , published by EGR in late June , featured a graph outlining the rate of first-time depositors for sports betting in the U . S . as compared to the rest of the world .
Using February as the baseline of 100 percent , the number of account openings in the U . S . fell by more than a third to 64 percent in May , which continued the downward trend that first started in April . This is mainly attributed to the fact that the NFL football and NCAA basketball seasons are both concluded by the end of March , marking the beginning of the slow period for U . S . sports .
Conversely , the ending of the Premier League season in the U . K . and big international soccer tournaments such as the UEFA European Championships and the CONMEBOL Copa América are big account generators elsewhere around the world . Virtually all global sports betting markets are expected to see increased account signups and handle during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris , which began July 26 and run through August 11 .
6 Global Gaming Business AUGUST 2024