A survey completed in August—before sports betting was launched in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island—found that millennial males are much more avid sports bettors than previously thought.
Results of the survey, completed by Deloitte Global and published last week, show that some 43 percent of U.S. men aged 25-34 who watch sports put down at least one bet on a game every week. That puts the millennial segment at the top of potential sports bettors as more U.S. states pass laws to authorize the wagering in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision last may removing the federal sports-betting ban.
The percentages of bettors among sports fans, according to the survey, drop precipitously for groups over age 34. According to the report, only 20 percent of men aged 35-44 bet on sports on a weekly basis, and only 4 percent of men age 55 and over.
The numbers for women who watch sports were more modest, but the millennial segment still dominates. The survey found that 14 percent of women age 25-34 bet on sports weekly, with 9 percent of women aged 35-44 turning in weekly wagers.
Men also dominate the daily sports betting market, with the percentage of overall daily sports bettors at 85 percent men, according to the survey.
The survey also confirms that the existence of sports betting boosts viewership of the games. “As gambling frequency goes up, so does weekly viewing time,” the report said. “On weekends, the most-frequent bettors watch about 6.4 hours of TV sports over the two days, or 60 percent more than the approximately four hours spent watching sports TV by non-gamblers,” the report finds. “But on weekdays, non-gamblers watch TV sports for an average of only 1.25 hours daily, while the heaviest gamblers watch 2.8 hours, or 160 percent more.
“To put it simply, it appears that weekend TV sports has broader appeal, while weekday TV sports appeals to the hard-core watchers—and gambling or not gambling on the games makes a bigger difference.”
In its “Bottom Line” summary of the report, the authors of the Deloitte Global survey wrote, “It will be little surprise to most that young men watch a lot of sports on TV, that they watch more sports than women do, or that they gamble. What is new is how important TV sports watching is for men aged 18-34, how frequently some of them gamble, and how close the relationship is between gambling frequency and watching more TV sports. Broadcasters, distributors and advertisers could do well to undertake further research to examine this relatively unexplored correlation.
“It’s hard to escape the conclusion that companies that make and distribute TV sports should talk more to, partner with, or even acquire those companies that are involved with sports betting. Or vice versa. It is clear from our research that the two industries, at least as far as American men 18-34 years old are concerned, are not sitting in splendid isolation.”
