There have been big changes in the US over the past few years as efforts to have a wider impact on changing regulation seem to be taking hold in different states – for some it still remains unavailable such as Texas online sports betting although there are some sites that do provide access, whereas other recent changes such as New York recently announcing budgeting for the change. But which are the biggest sports in the US for betting, and could this change as different markets start to come online with further regulation change propelling others to become more popular?
Football – Not at all a surprise to any, football certainly tops the list as the most popular and most bet sport within the US – and not just the big events and games in the NFL either as college football in some regards is even more poplar. There have always been rumours around the biggest bets too such as the rumour that Mayweather placed a $10.4 million bet back in 2014 on the Broncos, whether or not that’s true there are certainly those who would bet that if they could. There have been some rule changes put in place coming in to the 2021 season too, and whilst these changes may not have a big impact on the game state itself, it could encourage some changes in betting behaviour, but that will something to be seen throughout the year.
Horse Racing – With hundreds of different tracks around the country and some of the biggest races in the world on the calendar, it’s no surprise that horse racing certainly breaks into the top as one of the biggest sports to bet on too. It remains as one of the most bets sports around the world in general, and as options in betting become more available it’s likely that betting in this space will only continue to grow alongside the market.
Basketball – Unsurprisingly another of the big names in basketball as numbers continue to surge, similar to horse racing a lot of the benefit comes as a much wider audience is present across different audiences as basketball remains big in locations outside of the US across Europe. This certainly helps to bolster betting numbers on events like the NBA, but of course in a very similar way as more betting options become available in different states it’s likely that further success will be found in basketball betting too. As one of the few sports that was able to find huge success with the bubble in 2020 too, numbers could continue to rise as a growing number of fans have found a passion in basketball.
Other notable options would certainly be in the likes of Baseball too as another of the US favourites, but does remain a little smaller than some of the other markets as it doesn’t have as big of an international audience. It will certainly be interesting to see how much the markets can grow, however, given the big changes on the way for sports betting as a whole.
