US Has the Fastest-Growing Online Sports Betting Industry in the World; Revenues Skyrocketed by 1,521% with $20.9B Spent on Wagers in Five Years

The legalization of sports betting in the United States five years ago released a huge American demand, which shows no signs of stopping any time soon. Since 2018, more than 30 million Americans started betting online, pushing the entire market’s gross gambling revenue to record highs.

According to data presented by SportsLens.com, Americans are expected to spend roughly $7.6bn on online sports bets in 2023, or 1,521% more than five years ago.

US Sports Betting Revenue Grew 22x Faster than in Australia and 10x More than in the UK

Before May 2018, the only option to bet legally in the US was to go to Nevada. But after the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection (PASPA), the US sports betting market has gained quite momentum, with millions of sports fans wagering billions of dollars on the outcome of an event or game.

According to Statista data, the gross gambling revenue from sports betting in the United States, or total wagers minus winning, amounted to $470 million in 2018. A year later, this figure jumped to nearly $1.2bn and continued rising. After doubling in 2020, the gross gambling revenue in the US market grew by 65% in 2021 and another 48% in 2022, pushing the annual wager value to a $5.6bn last year. Statista expects this figure to grow by another 36% to $7.6bn in 2023 and then practically double and hit $14.4bn by 2027.

The US online sports betting industry’s growth is even more impressive compared to other top markets. Statistics show the US gross gambling revenue grew 22 times faster than in Australia, the world’s largest online sports betting market. The United States saw ten times bigger revenue growth than the United Kingdom, the third-largest sports betting industry in the world.

Australian gross gambling revenue jumped by 153% between 2018 and 2023, while the UK market saw a 67% growth in this period.

Americans Spent $20.9B on Wagers in Five Years

Although Australia generates 20% of total gross gambling revenue in the online sports betting market, worth $43.5bn in 2023, Americans are the largest online sports betting nation, counting over 31.1 million users as of this year.

In the past five years, this massive user base has spent tens of billions of dollars on wagers. Statista data show Americans have spent a whopping $20.9bn on sports betting apps and websites since 2018, including the projected spending for this year. Britons spent nearly the same, with close to $20bn put on online sports bets in five years. As the highest-spending nation in this sector, Australians lead with $36.3bn put on wagers in this period.