A day ahead of the kick-off of the National Football League’s 100th season, the casino industry issued new research showing that legal sports wagering continues to increase fan engagement and interest.
The American Gaming Association said Wednesday that 38 million Americans – roughly 15 percent of the U.S. adult population – will wager on NFL games this season, an estimated 1 million more than a year ago.
In the 16 months since the U.S. Supreme Court repealed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, 13 states now offer legal and regulated sports books at casinos, racetracks and through mobile wagering applications.
Another five states and Washington D.C. could launch legal sports betting by the end of the year.
While sports betting was legal in five states when the NFL began play a year ago, the number of legal markets has since doubled, including states that are home markets to NFL teams, such as Pennsylvania, New York, and Indiana.
Morning Consult, which conducted a survey of Americans on their attitudes toward sports betting for the AGA, found that one out of every four American adults – 24 percent – said they would wager on an NFL game if the activity was legal in their state.
AGA CEO Bill Miller said on a conference call to discuss the survey’s findings that the NFL’s opposition toward legal sports betting has softened somewhat, although he didn’t want to speak for the league. Since the Supreme Court decision, more than 40 professional teams – including several NFL franchises – have reached marketing and sponsorship agreements with major gaming companies and casinos.
“I think the view of the folks in the NFL has shifted,” Miller said. “A natural evolution has taken place across all the leagues. The NFL has been a little more cautious than some other leagues.”
Miller cited the NFL’s association with Las Vegas. The Oakland Raiders will move to the city next season and play in a $1.9 billion stadium near the Las Vegas Strip. Plans are also underway for the city to host the 2020 NFL Draft in April.
He added that additional states with NFL teams – Illinois and Tennessee have legalized sports betting but haven’t yet launched the activity – have helped to change negative attitudes.
“Our view is that this industry is well regulated at the state level,” Miller said. “I think this is a positive step for sports betting and the NFL. The NFL will realize strong regulation at the state level is a benefit to them and there is no need to a federal framework.”
Morning Consult found that 39 percent of avid NFL fans plan to wager on the NFL this season, 75 percent of NFL bettors are more likely to watch a game in which they have placed a wager, and 28 percent are likely to attend a game they have bet on.
“That’s a meaningful statistic,” Miller said of the fan engagement figures.
A year ago, the AGA said a study found that the NFL would see a benefit of $2.3 billion from fan engagement directly tied to legalized sports betting.
Miller said football – especially the NFL – is easily the most popular sport for legal wagering. A consumer survey conducted by the Washington D.C.-based trade group in March found that 93 percent of sports bettors were more interested in the NFL than any other professional sports league.
“Sports betting clearly impacts fans’ enthusiasm for engaging with the NFL,” Miller said in a statement. “As the legal market grows, it is imperative for gaming and adjacent industries to focus on implementing and promoting legal sports betting responsibly to protect consumers and ensure the viability of legal markets to the continued detriment of illegal operators.”
Much of the discussion on the conference call shifted from NFL wagering to the rapid expansion of sports wagering in the U.S. Since the federal ban was lifted, more than $10 billion has been wagered legally on sports in the U.S.
Miller, a longtime Washington D.C. lobbyist before becoming the AGA’s CEO in January, said the rapid expansion of sports betting “has been nothing short of remarkable. You would be hard pressed to see anything comparable to the expansion of legal sports betting.”
He predicted that almost every U.S. state would have some form of legal sports betting in the next five years, regardless of whether or not casinos were located in that jurisdiction. He cited Tennessee as an example: that state does not have any commercial casinos, but nevertheless legalized mobile sports wagering this year.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
