Sports betting continues to grow quickly in the U.S., with 30% of U.S. adults (21+) now saying they have placed a bet on a sporting event at least once. That’s up five percentage points in the past five months alone, according to CivicScience survey data.
The increasing number of bettors includes 17% who now say they’ve placed a bet at a casino or sportsbook location, and seven percent who say they’ve placed a bet online using a sportsbook app.
Fair warning: The world of sportsbook apps is a bit complicated. Since U.S. states continue to slowly approve sports betting one by one, sports betting apps are not available in all U.S. states. Among the sportsbook apps CivicScience surveyed Americans about, FanDuel led the pack by being active in 12 U.S. states, followed by DraftKings with 11 states. Other apps like Barstool and FOX Bet are only available in four states apiece. Therefore, although Barstool and FanDuel may be used by the same percentage of people in their respective groups of states, FanDuel’s presence nationwide will be larger than Barstool’s due to being active in 12 states instead of four.
That being said, it’s still striking to see how much other sportsbook apps — particularly Barstool and PointsBet — have caught up with DraftKings and FanDuel since October.
The Crossover Between Online Sports Betting and Crypto
Some details about online sportsbook users are fairly intuitive: They’re three times more likely to play fantasy sports than others (52% to 17%); they’re also more likely to be male (64% to 36%) and younger than 35 (58% to 24%).
Other insights about online sportsbook users are a little less obvious. For instance, there’s a huge crossover between online sports betting and cryptocurrency. Users of apps like DraftKings and FanDuel are much more likely than others to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Social Media Use
Another interesting find: Even filtering only among adults ages 25-44, online sportsbook users are much more likely than their peers to use social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
Sports betting is on the rise in the U.S., both in-person and online. While the two market leaders, FanDuel and DraftKings, continue to lead the competition, other sportsbook apps are catching up. Young men who use social media more often than their peers are the most likely to place sports bets online — and they have a keen interest in cryptocurrency as well.
