Alex Silverman, senior reporter covering the business of sports at Morning Consult, joins Cheddar News to discuss why the number of those betting on sports doubled in 2021 and what's next for the industry in 2022. 

Between Bells

New Poll Reveals Sports Betting Doubled in 2021

Welcome back to between Bells. According to a new poll by the morning, consult the number of American adults regularly, gambling on sports rose from 5% to 12% between January and December of last year, with more states jumping on board to sports betting. That number could increase even more by the end of 2022. Joining us. Now to discuss is the study. Um, senior reporter on sports at morning console Alex Silverman talking about this study. Welcome. Thank you so much for joining us. What were some key drivers that made sports betting grow by the end of 2021. Thanks for having me Asia. So, 11 states last year launched legalized sports betting and uh, you know, along with that there was a huge increase in the amount that sports sports betting operators were spending on marketing. And you saw that both in, of course, in the states that legalized, but also Sports fans that weren't in legal betting states could feel that through the integration of sports betting content into telecasts, um, into articles through, you know, sponsored partnerships between media outlets, uh, and betting operators. You saw $1.2 billion dollars in marketing spend last year by, by sports betting operators. And you know, that number projects to be even higher this year at around two billion. What surprised you the most about findings from this report? Yeah, I think what really, um, what was surprising was the fact that folks in legal sports betting states weren't any more likely than folks in, uh, states that have yet to legalize to say that they are betting regularly, Which I think a speaks to the fact that, you know, a lot of people are still betting with friends and, you know, um, co workers in those sort of casual uh, pools. Um, and and that some people, you know, haven't necessarily transitioned yet from their uh, you know, uh, unauthorized sports betting into the legal sports betting ecosystem. And and we found through previous polling that a lot of people that are in uh legal sports betting states aren't necessarily aware that, you know, the policy in their state has changed quite yet. So I think there's, um, some education to be done there. Yeah. And the study points to some data that adults ages 44 and under are more likely to bet on sports than older people. Why do you think that's the case? Well, I think with mobile betting it makes sense. Uh, you know, younger people are on their mobile devices and online more often. Um, a lot of the marketing spend that these companies are engaging in is digital marketing that, you know, younger people are more likely to um, engage with and and and be subjected to for lack of a better word. Um, and I just think that, you know, younger people have sort of been primed for this for years with fantasy sports. Um, you know, older sports fans didn't necessarily grow up with with, you know, having as much skin in the game. Yeah. A draft kings executive recently called the state of California one of the holy Grails in sports betting. What impact do you think legalized sports betting in the state? Can, what what impact do you think it will have on the rest of the industry? Yeah, I mean if they can get it done in California, it would be massive. Um It's it's a messy situation there because there are, you know, a number of competing interests. You have the uh native american tribes, you have established card rooms that date all the way back to the gold Rush. And then you have these online betting companies like Draftkings and Fanduel that want to come in and um you know, making uh allow Californians to bet on their mobile devices? Um So you have a lot of competing interests and I think that is uh you know, creates a difficult situation in terms of legalization. But yeah, if it gets done it would, you know, be the most populous state too. Uh legalize sports betting. And I just think um I believe two thirds of americans at that point would live in a state with legal sports betting, interesting. Another state we have our eye on is Missouri in terms of progress there. Even the state's professional sports teams are backing legalizing sports betting. So where do you think the progress is there? When can we see this actualized in Missouri? Yeah, I think having the sports teams on board with the casino operators now is is a big step. Um It does seem like there is uh some momentum there. I think it's I'm I'm more optimistic. I think about Missouri this year in november than than California. Alright. And any other predictions that that you have for the industry in 2022 for sports betting? Um Yeah I'm really keeping my eye on new york. They just launched legal online sports betting. They had previously uh legalized in person betting. But the difference in terms of the expected revenue with uh mobile sports betting is exponential. So I think new york is most likely at least until California or texas gets in the game, going to be the Uh you know the most money is going to be better in New York. What's interesting about New York though is they have the highest gaming tax rate over 50%. So it'll be interesting to see whether sports books are able to sort of capitalize on on New York's huge population given that that high tax rate that they're dealing with their All right Alex Silverman senior reporter on sports at morning consult. You can read their study right now on morning consult dot com