Sports Betting Handle Expected to Reach $144 Billion by 2026

Sports betting is exploding in popularity around the world. However, this may only be the beginning of the fireworks display, and technology will continue to be the driver of this growth spurt.

Wagering on sports was already an $89 billion business in 2021. Estimates are that global sports betting revenue will grow to $144 billion by the year 2026. These projections are the conclusion of the Business Research Company’s sports betting market research report. This report expands on key drivers, trends, and growth opportunities in the sports betting market.

Those numbers would work out to a 61.8% increase in global sports betting revenue over that five-year span.

The Business Research Company is a market intelligence firm. The company excels in market, and consumer research. Located globally, it has strategy enablement specialists in a wide range of industries. These are including manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, chemicals, and technology.

Biggest reason to be bullish on long-term (10+ years) iGaming expansion:

"the six states in which iGaming is currently legal generated $970 million in gaming tax revenue in 2021, compared with $560 million generated in the 30 states with sports betting"https://t.co/JP2nrAqw1N

— Chris Lynch (@ChrisLynchNJ) August 2, 2022

Their flagship product, the Global Market Model, is a market intelligence platform covering various macroeconomic indicators and metrics. Its coverage goes across 60 geographies and 27 industries. The Global Market Model covers multi-layered datasets which help its users assess supply-demand gaps.

According to their research, the global sports wagering market size will increase exponentially. The industry is expecting growth from $89.65 billion in 2021 to $99.20 billion in 2022. That works out to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.64%. By 2026, the global sports betting market share is expected to reach $144.34 billion. That’s a CAGR of 9.83%.

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New Technology Will Drive Sports Betting Growth

The increase in sports leagues and sporting events around the world, such as the rebirth of the USFL and the new LIV Golf Tour, are helping to boost wagering on sports and thus increase revenue. However, the real driver of this anticipated explosive sports betting revenue growth is going to be new technology.

The continued development of 5G technology is at the forefront of this driving force. Studies show that bettors are doing 86% of all sports wagering online and the percentage showing the greatest growth in that area is betting with a mobile device.

Nevada with another +$1b month in June, this time at $1.277b, +8.06% year-over-year.

LV Strip $734.781m +22.70%
Downtown $69.888m -11.60%
Reno $61.41m -4.84%

Sports betting revenue $23.834m, handle $490.411m$MGM $CZR $BYD $RRR $VICI $APO $BALY

— C. Blake Weishaar (@BlakeWeishaar) July 28, 2022

The advent of 5G technology is making wagering on sports even easier to do on a smartphone or other mobile device. According to Ericsson’s latest Mobility Report, the number of worldwide 5G smartphone subscriptions in 2021 will be increasing to 600 million, growing by three times the 2020 total. By 2022, expectations are that 5G subscriptions are going to be surpassing the one-billion mark. This growth will also be driving an increasing appetite for sports betting.

Anticipation is that the advancing adoption of 5G networks is going to be propelling significant sports wagering market growth throughout the forecast period. This technology enables the connection of more devices at the same time. It also is delivering the promise of reducing latency. Quicker processing of data is holding the potential to keep fans on their phones longer. It could also be encouraging more of them to wager while they are watching. As well, 5G service is going to be enabling fans to be making mobile bets while simultaneously streaming games on their smartphones.

A1, Blockchain Also Factors

Another impacting factor is the implementation of AI and the blockchain in sports betting applications. This is a key trend that is gaining popularity in the sports wagering services market. Sports wagering applications are increasingly adopting blockchain technologies. This technology is capable of accurately automating real-time data using smart contracts. These smart contracts help sports betting in payment, bet confirmations, past event analytics, monitoring and event recording.

Where Sports Betting Growth Is Most Evident

Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the sports betting market last year. This area was worth $21,879.5 million in 2021.

FanDuel maintained its New York online sports betting dominance despite an overall weak seven days in the Empire State.

It reported $67.2 million in total handle for the week ending July 24 and $4.48 in gross gaming revenue, again tops in the state.

— RLinnehanXL (@RLinnehanXl) July 29, 2022

As far as sports betting companies, Flutter Entertainment was the world’s largest competitor in the sports betting market in 2021. They were showing a 7.37% share of the global market. The company operates a portfolio of sports betting and gaming brands. These include FanDuel Sportsbook, Paddy Power, Adjarabet, Betfair, TVG (soon to be known as FanDuel TV), and Sportsbet.