The legalization and innovative technologies have opened the floodgates in the online sports betting market, with the entire industry seeing more users and revenue than ever. Since 2017, more than 85 million people have started placing sports bets online, pushing the total user count to 127.8 million in 2023. As the online sports betting industry continues booming, this figure will grow even further in the following years.
According to data presented by CasinosEnLigne.com, the total number of users in the online sports betting market is expected to jump by 36% in the next four years and touch almost 175 million by 2027.
An Average 13M New Users Per Year, Despite User Growth Slowing Down
The tremendous growth of the sports betting industry has been boosted by legalization in the United States and Canada. America’s sports betting revenue skyrocketed by a jaw-dropping 1,500% since the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, turning the US into the world`s second-largest online sports betting market, with $7.6bn in revenue and 31 million users.
In just two years, Canada turned from a country that banned online bets into one of the fastest-growing sports betting markets. The legalization of single-game sports betting released a huge Canadian demand, with more than 16 million Canadians placing online sports bets today. The two markets had a huge role in user growth in the global online sports betting market.
According to Statista Market Insights, between 2017 and 2020, the number of people placing sports bets online surged by 60%, rising from 42.5 million to almost 68 million. But 2021 and 2022 saw the biggest growth rates. Statistics show 18.6 million started using sports betting apps and websites in 2021 alone. A year later, the number of users surged by another 22.3 million and hit nearly 109 million worldwide.
After adding around 19 million new users in 2023, the market will see user growth rates eventually slow down by 2027. Still, the number of people using sports betting sites and apps will grow by an average of 13 million in this period.
US Market to See the Biggest User Growth in the Next Four Years
Innovation around the user experience has been one of the biggest drivers behind the impressive user growth in the online sports betting sector. Besides mobile betting, which enables placing sports bets anytime and anywhere, in-play betting, artificial intelligence and machine learning predictions, and digital sportsbook all proved to be quite the appeal to consumers, with 86% of sports wagers now being placed online.
Still, not all countries will see the same user growth. Although Australia generates 20% of total gross gambling revenue in the online sports betting market, worth $43.5bn in 2023, the United States leads in total user count, with more than 31.1 million users as of this year. The US market is also expected to see the biggest user growth in the next four years, with the number of people placing sports bets online surging by 58% to 49.2 million.
Australia will see a 31% growth in this period, and the number of users jumping from 6.8 million to almost 9 million. Japan and Germany follow with 31% and 30% growth in this period and 7.8 million and 6.5 million users, respectively.
Statistics show the United Kingdom, as one of the oldest sports betting markets, will see its user base rise by 9% to 14.8 million in the next four years.
