Americans Bet $148 Billion on Sports in 2024, Up 23.6%

There’s still plenty of growth in the U.S. legal sports betting market, as new figures from the American Gaming Association attest.

The industry group said that sports wagering in 2024 reached $13.71 billion in revenue, a 25.4% increase from 2023’s figure that had been a record. Overall sports betting handle, meanwhile, rose 23.6% to $147.9 billion during the year, with more than 95% of that activity happening online. 

In addition to the continued expansion of sports betting around the country, now reaching 38 states and the District of Columbia, several individual states saw particularly strong escalation. In 2024, Illinois overtook New Jersey to become the No. 2 state for sports betting revenue, trailing only New York. Massachusetts, meanwhile, saw its sports betting revenue rise by nearly 40% last year and it jumped two slots in state rankings to No. 7. 

The totals are a broader confirmation of the market expansion already reported by the two titans of U.S. sports betting, FanDuel and DraftKings, which collectively control about two-thirds of the overall market. DraftKings reported last week its first full-year adjusted profit, along with a 30% bump in revenue. The already profitable Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of FanDuel, issued similar findings in November and is expected to reaffirm that with full-year results scheduled for release on March 4. 

“These past few years have reshaped the industry, and the revenue pie, and while it’s much bigger, looks very different than it used to,” AGA vice president of research David Forman said in a state-of-the-industry call. 

The rise of the U.S. sports betting market, meanwhile, continues to happen without the two most populous states, California and Texas. Legislative efforts to legalize sports wagering there have stalled in recent years, but hope persists within the industry of ultimately unlocking those coveted markets. In Texas, that push is intertwined with the Mavericks’ desire for a new arena.