Sports betting in the U.S. is an extremely lucrative market and has continued to grow since the 2018 decision by the Supreme Court to grant states the autonomy to legalize it. With a fan base of over 150 million people that tune in to live sports every month, the sports betting market is enjoying unprecedented success.
The American Gaming Association published statistics that showed 39.2 million Americans placed bets on sports over the course of 2022. With more states legalizing betting and a wider selection of betting operators to choose from, this figure is set to rise.
But which sports do Americans most like to bet on? Keep reading to learn more about the country’s most popular sports.
Football
American Football is the most watched sport in the US with 74.5% of Americans regularly tuning in or visiting stadiums to support their favorite teams. It is also the second most played sport in the country, with approximately 22% of the population playing.
High viewing figures will always impact the popularity of betting as people are more likely to gamble on the sports they know about and watch.
There are a number of popular betting markets for the NFL with totals, moneyline, and the point spread being at the top. The totals market allows people to bet on whether the total points in a game will go over or under a specified threshold. Moneyline betting is determined by who will win the game and points spread betting is based on the margin of victory.
Other markets include individual player performance betting, outright competition markets, and handicap betting, which offers greater odds on matches by giving teams an advantage.
Basketball
Basketball is the second most watched sport in the U.S. and the most played. Like football, moneyline, points spread, and totals are popular markets for basketball fans. Futures bets are also a popular market and allow sports fans to bet on future events like the outcome of a championship.
Proposition bets allow other match predictions including who gets the most blocks, whether there is a technical foul, or whether a player will exceed a points threshold in the game.
Betting on basketball is popular in all U.S. states where it has been legalized as well as those where residents rely on visiting the best offshore gambling sites to legally place bets on various markets.
Baseball
Baseball is America’s third most popular sport to watch and play. Betting on baseball includes the major sports betting markets mentioned above as well as others, including parlay betting. This allows punters to combine a number of selections to create a large bet with big odds.
The most popular player bets center around pitchers and batters, with wagers being placed on how many strikes or home runs are achieved in each match.
Ice Hockey
Hockey is the fourth most popular U.S. sport and one of the most unique betting opportunities for team sports is available with prop bets on fighting! First-goal scorer betting in the NHL is also popular among hockey fans and can attract higher odds than choosing the winner.
