Sports betting is definitely one of the most popular ways to gamble in the world. It is usually the most popular among the people who also happen to be sports lovers. This leads us to the conclusion that substantial amounts of money are spent on this type of gambling every day. However, it is difficult to make an estimate that concerns the market as a whole, as some of the data is difficult to come upon and there are many variables that need to be included, not forgetting the sign up bonuses and promotions such as the Paddy Power promo code that bookmakers frequently offer.

The State of Nevada

On the other hand, country-specific data is much easier to find, but it can serve as a representative to prove our point that sports gambling is very popular, especially in the US!

Namely, the Nevada Gaming Commission made an overview of the sports betting activities in this country and came to the conclusion that a total of $3.2 billion was wagered only when it comes to sports bets. To make things more interesting, American football took 41% of that cake, with $1.3 billion wagered.

Now, when it comes to a specific event, the most popular one in Nevada is definitely the Super Bowl, with a total of $98.9 million wagered on it. Furthermore, there is an estimate that only this event in the whole world sees a total of $8 billion. In fact, it is estimated that around 200 million people in the world place bets on this sports event.

What About The World?

The world numbers and facts are easier to come upon and the European Gaming & Betting Association has a really tough overview of the spendings.

The money spent on sports betting is around $70 billion worldwide.

However, it is neither the EU nor the US that takes the throne when it comes to sports betting. Although technically speaking, EU bettors spend more money than those in Asia. However, Asia still includes the largest number of people who actively participate in sports betting.

When it comes to a country-specific betting market, Japan definitely wins here – who would have thought? The second country is the UK, which is a somewhat expected option.

The Future?

Some of the figures mentioned above are all harvested from the legal sports betting. Sadly, illegal betting is still very present in some parts of the world, and there is no rough estimate on how much is bet. One thing is certain – it is in billions. Asia is currently a leader when it comes to unregulated sports betting, and it is expected that they should see the biggest growth in the future, mainly because they will try to completely legalize betting on sports.