Research has shown that sports betting takes up to 40% of the world's betting market, including casinos, lotteries, poker and other kinds of betting. There's a massive number of bettors in the online and offline sports betting space. Some of the best-known betting companies have hundreds of thousands of clients from across the globe.
7 Sports that Brings the Most Money from Betting
An estimation shows over half a trillion dollars in total flow in the betting industry every year. Even in the USA alone, investment firm Morgan Stanley believes that the betting market will reach $7 billion in revenue by 2025.
Today, betting is available in all sports and its rising niches such as eSports, the fastest growing in both player participants, viewers and betting. However, the prominent few giants have always shared the most interest from most global sports betting markets. And even though the figures might depend on the country, the sports we've listed here are the favourite ones to bet on:
Football
Football or soccer is the most played sport globally, so we're mentioning it first on our list. Decades ago, horse racing used to be in the first place, but in-play betting and early cashouts have turned football into the giant it is today.
Bettors have spent a total of over 1 billion euros on football every year in the UK. But because of the number of unregulated markets, it is impossible to find accurate figures of the global market. Also, with big events like the World Cup, the viewership figures can reach hundreds of millions, making the football betting total figure truly enormous.
Horse Racing
This sport has been the definition of betting and gambling for many years. And in the history of sports betting, horse racing was the most popular sport for betting. Today, it's still a worldwide giant and it's one of the few games available for 24/7 betting.
Horse races are some of the wealthiest sporting events, and due to the massive prize money, extensive viewership and big-time punters also come. The horse racing betting market is estimated to reach over 100 billion euros every year. Japan surprisingly ranks first for the biggest market, followed by Australia and the UK. The USA also offers big potential for horse race betting, as racing is a favourite industry in the US, with more and more states legalising betting.
Tennis
This may have surprised you, but tennis is part of the top three global sports betting industries. Live/in-play betting starts when there's an option for which player will win a set while also offering the chance of who's going to win the game. This combo makes tennis an exciting sport to bet on due to its high frequency.
Betting on the star players in the early rounds also offers an easy low-risk bet. For example, the first few rounds have Federer or Djokovic playing an outsider, and as the top three players have dominated tennis for the past 20 years, they rarely lose to a newcomer. The option for live betting is also a big factor in the exponential rise of tennis betting.
NFL
As online betting in the USA becomes legal, American Football will likely turn into a massive sports betting market. The NFL and the epic Super Bowl are watched globally and punted on and the market will get bigger from here.
American football is the football brand in the US, not to be confused with soccer, as the world also knows it as football. American football is professionally played at the college level with high enthusiasm. Their annual tournament is known as the National Football League (NFL). Many games are played weekly that offer bettors plenty of opportunities to win big cash.
Golf
Golf has been considered one of the biggest risers in the sports betting industry in the last few decades. As 78 players playing on every course at any moment, this offers plenty of betting formats and it's pretty obvious to see why this sport is popular with bettors.
Golf's big events run for 3 days while the majors go over 4 days. These days combined with the number of players in the field provide a lot more opportunities, odds and variable outcomes compared to other sports.
Boxing
Boxing is another sport that's correlated with betting for many years. Even though boxing is overshadowed by football, tennis and golf, it's still a sport that brings big revenues from betting. Boxing still offers excellent betting opportunities because there aren't many outcomes during a match.
As there aren't many outcomes, you also don't need to make many decisions, which gives you a better chance to make money. For example, there are usually only a few betting lines available for every fight during the weekend. Boxing is also great for betting as it's open all year round, which gives you more betting opportunities.
Basketball
Basketball is, no doubt, one of the most popular sports worldwide. The sport consequently also offers some of the most profits for betting. However, you need to know the best timing when betting on basketball, as this sport is highly competitive and predicting an outcome can be challenging. For example, in the NBA, the best teams can go on some harsh losing streaks at the start of the season.
The long NBA (National Basketball Association) season offers bettors many betting opportunities, starting from October to July. Some popular basketball bets like Moneyline (different odds based on which team will win), Totals (combination of the score of every team) to Accumulator (multiple betting options combined into a single bet).
What Makes a Sport the Best to Bet on?
As you can see, these are the list of the best sports for betting, and there are plenty of things that make a sport a favourite for betting. The essential elements we look for in terms of strategy and objective advantages a sport may have over the other include the market variety, availability, research materials, odds quality and promotional opportunities.
