Chapter 2: Market Overviews
most lucrative sports leagues in the world. Soccer (association football) is less popular as a spectator
sport in the USA than it is in many other countries, although it has wide amateur participation,
particularly among youths and females.
Sport is particularly associated with education in the USA, with most high schools and universities
having teams. College sports competitions play an important role in American sporting culture. In
many cases college athletics are more popular than professional sports, with the major sanctioning
body being the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Casual sports betting has always been popular in the USA, from office pools to friendly wagers among
friends. Apart from baseball, it is American football and basketball that are the most popular choices
for sports bettors in the USA. Interestingly, college basketball and football account for more than 20%
of all the bets placed on American sports.
Land-based gaming is legal under US federal law, and each state is free to regulate or prohibit it.
Casino and gaming laws vary state by state in the USA, but generally pari-mutuel betting on horses,
greyhounds, jai-alai, card games, keno, bingo, slot machines, progressive slot machines, video poker
machines, video keno machines, video blackjack machines and video roulette machines are legal
where casinos are permitted.
Whilst Delaware, Oregon and Montana permit some form of legal sports betting, the vast majority
of traditional sports wagering occurs in Nevada. More states are expected to adopt rules concerning
online gambling as revenues continue to grow, though at a somewhat more moderate level than was
forecasted a year ago.
Sports betting at Nevada casinos generated revenue of $227m in 2014, and whilst that represents a
mere 2% of state-wide casino revenue, sports betting revenue is at least heading in the right direction.
Since the pre-recession peak of 2007, sports betting revenue has risen nearly 35% while total gaming
revenue has fallen around 14%. It is unknown how much mobile has contributed to this growth since
Nevada approved American Wagering’s pioneering Leroy’s App back in 2010.
Amount wagered at Nevada sportsbooks, 2009-2015
2009
$2.55 billion
2010
$2.76 billion (+8.2%)
2011
$2.88 billion (+4.2%)
2012
$3.45 billion (+19.9%)
2013
$3.62 billion (+5.0%)
2014
$3.90 billion (+7.7%)
2015
Increase of 14.6% year over year
Source: Nevada Gaming Control Board
The sports betting tally is expected to grow even faster now that the state has approved its so-called
‘entity’ betting legislation, which allows out-of-state bettors to take advantage (albeit indirectly) of
Nevada’s legal status as the only state in the union that allows single-game sports wagering.
Legal sports betting pales in comparison to the amount spent illegally on sports wagering. US gaming
trade body the American Gaming Association (AGA) estimates that Americans will spend $138.9bn on
illegal sports betting in 2016 alone. Around $95bn was wagered in college football in the USA in 2015
according to the AGA and around $4bn on the Super Bowl.
Digital Sports Betting 29