Sports betting has become the fastest growing segment of the global gambling industry, accounting for nearly half of the online gambling market. A fifth of sports betting now takes place via mobile, and this is expected to reach 45% by 2018. Horse racing still dominates global betting activity at 55% but football betting is growing rapidly in some countries. The potential for growth in sports betting is large as around 80% of bets are still made through illegal offshore websites, but many governments are starting to regulate and legalize sports betting.

1. SportBusiness in Numbers Volume 890
SporTS BETTING
S
ports betting has become the fastest growing
market segment within gambling worldwide,
and now dominates, accounting for nearly half
of the total online, or ‘interactive’, market.
A fifth of sports betting takes place via mobile, and
this is expected to reach 45 per cent by 2018.
The relationship between sport and betting is
closer than ever. Gambling industry money is flowing
into sport via sponsorship, advertising, educational
programmes and direct funding. Many Olympic and
elite athlete performance programmes exist only due to
gambling industry funding via state lotteries.
At €48.5bn ($54.2bn) gross win – which refers to
Top 20 sports betting nations 2014
Countries that spend the most on sports betting, how much they spend, and the global
trend in sports betting spend, with data from David Henwood of H2 Gambling Capital.
betting operators’ earnings after prizes have been
paid to customers – the size of the total sector is
significant. The turnover of gambling companies is
much higher than this – by a multiple of five or six.
Horse racing still dominates the global picture,
accounting for about 55 per cent of all betting activity.
Horse racing is particularly strong in the leading
nations such as the US (where sports betting is only
legal in Nevada and at horse racetracks), Japan and
Hong Kong. Outside horse racing, football is the
strongest sport for betting, and is growing fast, in
some nations approaching 60 per cent.
An interesting quirk in this market’s dynamics arises
Top 20 sports betting nations by gross win 2014
Total
Land-based
only
Interactive only
(onshore and
offshore)
1 Japan €9,394.3m 1 Japan €6,444.7m 1 Japan €2,949.7m
2 China €5,785.7m 2 China €4,614.9m 2 Hong Kong €1,681m
3 United States €4,033.3m 3 United States €2,762.1m 3 UK €1,658.7m
4 UK €3,928.3m 4 France €2,489.5m 4 United States €1,271.1m
5 Hong Kong €3,295.6m 5 UK €2,269.5m 5 China €1,170.8m
6 France €3,065.2m 6 South Korea €1,731.7m 6 Australia €987.6m
7 Australia €2,605.8m 7 Australia €1,618.1m 7 France €575.7m
8 South Korea €2,003.9m 8 Hong Kong €1,614.5m 8 Sweden €432.2m
9 Turkey €1,530.6m 9 Turkey €1,398.6m 9 Germany €393.8m
10 Italy €1,078.7m 10 Italy €816m 10 South Korea €272.2m
11 Sweden €763.1m 11 Greece €484.8m 11 Italy €262.7m
12 Canada €642.2m 12 Canada €433.7m 12 Spain €239.5m
13 Ireland €581.1m 13 Ireland €383.8m 13 Canada €208.6m
14 Greece €579.6m 14 Taiwan €382.8m 14 Singapore €204m
15 Spain €533.2m 15 Sweden €330.9m 15 Norway €204m
16 Singapore €509.4m 16 Singapore €305.5m 16 Ireland €197.3m
17 Germany €485.3m 17 Spain €293.7m 17 Czech Rep €164.6m
18 Malaysia €411.7m 18 Malaysia €251.7m 18 Malaysia €160m
19 Taiwan €386.2m 19 Morocco €191.6m 19 Russia €145.3m
20 Norway €342.4m 20 South Africa €188.2m 20 Austria €138.1m
‘Gross win’ refers to betting operators earnings after prizes have been paid out to winning customers.
‘Land-based’ refers to betting on physical premises.
‘Interactive’ refers to betting via online services.
Figures include horse racing and sports betting when integrated with lottery products, but exclude all generic lottery gross win numbers.
Source: H2 Gambling Capital, 2015

2. 91SportBusiness in Numbers Volume 8
SportS BETTING
from the gambling industry’s regulatory picture – i.e.
that it is legal to different extents in different parts of
the world. There is a large ‘grey’ or ‘offshore’ market
where players bet on websites that are not licensed in
the countries within which the player is located. This
skews the top 20 charts in favour of Asian countries
and the US, where grey sports betting is particularly
widespread.
All that said, a key statistic is that sports betting
still only makes up 12.6 per cent of the overall global
gambling industry – now worth €374.4bn – behind
casinos (38 per cent), lotteries (28 per cent) and gaming
machines (17 per cent). There is room for growth,
particularly in the Americas where the pace of change
lags well behind that in Europe and Asia. These are the
two dominant sports betting regions – albeit the latter is
mostly grey.
Riches ahead?
The real driver for the sports betting business is
legalisation, or ‘regulation’, to use the industry
parlance. About 80 per cent of the world’s sports
bets are still placed on the black market, according to
a 2014 report by the International Centre for Sports
Security. This suggests the true size of the sports
betting market might be nearly €250bn – representing
over 40 per cent of the total gambling market. It is not
surprising that many governments are taking action
against illegal markets, and regulating sports betting.
Basketball’s NBA has announced support for properly
regulated sports betting in the US. The state-owned
China Sports Lottery experimented recently with a
specialist sports draw game linked to the Fifa World Cup
2014. This led to an 83-per-cent rise in the lottery’s ticket
sales during the tournament.
H2 Gambling Capital (H2) – based in the UK – is
widely recognised as the leading authority regarding
market intelligence on the global gambling industry.
It has been tracking the value of the sports betting
and lottery sectors in real time since 2000. The vast
majority of Tier 1 gambling operators; many major
financial institutions and regulators; and leading
international sports federations are H2 subscribers,
accessing a living databank that covers 96 per cent
of the world’s gambling nations and over 2m data
points. New postings average 10,000 each week,
and over 500 organisations have used the deeper
dive H2 Premium advisory service as part of: due
diligence processes associated with major financial
transactions; commercial business planning; or
litigation and government policy formulation in the
sector.
H2 is partnered with iGaming Business and
SportBusiness International magazines, and has its
data regularly quoted by news organisations including
the BBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Economist, The FT,
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Further details at www.h2gc.com or by emailing
David Henwood – david.henwood@h2gc.com.
H2 Gambling Capital
Global online gambling gross win by product vertical in 2014
Skill/other
gaming
Bingo Poker Lotteries Casino Sports
betting
Source: H2 Gambling Capital, 2015
5%
22%
9%
6%
48%
10%
Global sports betting gross win 2014 (land-based and
interactive)
Source: H2 Gambling Capital, 2015
Africa
€591.2m
Latin
America
and the
Caribbean
€732.5m
North
America
€4,792.2m
Oceania
€2,903.5m
Europe
€15,545m
Asia and the
Middle East
€23,942.7m
Total:
€48.5bn