YouGov: How much do sports fans really gamble?

Sports and gambling have a symbiotic relationship in the UK – sports betting is easily the most popular online gambling category in the market, with nearly half of all UK bettors saying they bet at an online bookmaker in the past 12 months (47%).

‘Bettors’ here refers to those who have engaged in gambling activity in the past month (excluding lottery-only players). Within members of this group, sports gambling is even more popular than the lottery (37%) with regard to online activities.

Equally, sports followers (those who say they are ‘sports mad’ or follow sports closely) are markedly more likely than the overall British audience to bet. Nearly a quarter of these fans say they have placed a bet at an online bookmaker in the past 12 months compared to just 12% of the overall population.

But not all sports are equal, with fans of certain sports much more likely to participate in sports betting or other forms of gambling than others. Here, we focus on fans of some of the country’s most popular sports, namely football, rugby, cricket, tennis and horseracing. ‘Fans of sports’ in this article are defined as those who have mentioned they follow those sports on a regular basis.

Due to its long-standing association with betting, horseracing is a massive outlier in that fans of the sport are significantly more likely than fans of other sports to engage in both sports betting and other kinds of gambling. Nearly half of them say they have placed a sports bet in the past year (49%). Football fans come in next (23%), with cricket fans close behind (21%). Under a fifth of rugby (18%) and tennis fans (16%) say they have placed sports bets in the past year.

More variances emerge with amounts staked by each group. While tennis fans are the least likely of all to engage in online gambling, those who do tend to stake substantial amounts. A fifth of them stake £100 or more each month (19%), eclipsed only by gamblers who are horseracing fans (22%). Football-fan gamblers are the least likely to stake at least £100 across various kinds of gambling activity in a month.

There is less variance in the amounts staked on sports bets specifically. For fans of tennis, cricket, football and Rugby Union, between 11% and 13% say they stake over £50 on sports in an average month. The percentage goes up significantly among horseracing fans.

So how should marketers reach gamblers? As seen in the shares of each sports fan group that dabble in gambling, room for further penetration exists. For marketers, perhaps the most prudent step is to recognise gaps in brand recognition when tailoring their strategies. For instance, only 69% of all tennis fans are even aware of bet365, much lower than the share of football fans who know the brand (79%). Rugby fans are far less likely to know about Sky Bet (60%) than football (70%) or cricket (67%) fans. Filling these gaps could perhaps lead to some market share gains.

However, brands should be careful to keep their messages subtle to avoid alienating prospective consumers through aggressive advertising. Over six-tenths of fans of cricket (65%), Rugby Union (64%), tennis (63%) and football (62%) already say they see too many gambling ads. Additionally, only a fifth of each of them say it is appropriate for gambling firms to sponsor sports teams.

Having worked for YouGov for over a decade, Oliver Rowe has advised companies including Tesco and Barclays on their reputation management. He now brings that experience to a sector which includes the betting and gaming industry in his role as global sector head for leisure and entertainment.