The last three decades have seen an incredible change in the way we live our lives. The widespread availability of access to the internet has profoundly affected how we work, play, and spend our leisure time – and the gambling industry has not been impervious to this massive market disruptor, either.
For decades, enjoying a flutter would involve journeying to Las Vegas and enjoying the casinos on its world-famous strip, or else heading to your local bookmakers and laying a wager on your favorite sport. However, the advent of the internet and the arrival of online casino meant it became possible to do both from the comfort of your own home, wherever that happens to be. But which of these two gambling pastimes is more popular?
Sporting chance
The convenience and choice offered by online bookmakers have made sports betting a more attractive proposition – and a more popular pastime – than ever before. Today, sports enthusiasts can log in to their favorite site online and place a wager on the outcome of an upcoming (or in-play) event, regardless of where they live or which activity they prefer to watch and bet on. As long as their country of residence has not prohibited the practice, the world is their betting oyster.
That flexibility and freedom have seen the sports betting sector attain unprecedented economic success. According to a report by the BBC, sports betting (in conjunction with national lotteries) was already worth in excess of $700 billion per year by 2013. In the intervening time, its popularity and profitability will only have ballooned even further, likely making it a trillion-dollar industry today.
The lure of the casino
Of course, traditional casino pastimes such as slots and table games haven’t suffered in the interim, either. Although in-person visits to brick-and-mortar casinos may have slumped in recent years, that deficit has been more than compensated for by a vertiginous rise in the number of gamblers trying to win over Lady Luck online.
Indeed, Statista reports that both land-based and online casinos raked in a cumulative $227 billion in 2020, with the industry employing more than one million individuals that year. Approached from that perspective, the casino industry might be lagging behind the sports betting sector in terms of turnover, but the human impact (in terms of employment opportunities and societal contributions it engenders) cannot be underestimated.
Value in both
As such, it’s something of a pointless exercise to try and compare the relative fortunes brought in by sports betting and online casinos in isolation. The former may be far more lucrative and popular at the present time, and the rise of esports could contribute to a deepening of the monetary divide.
Having said that, focusing solely on the bottom line neglects the myriad other ways in which popular table games like roulette add value to the economy. Croupiers, dealers, and waitstaff depend upon the humble casino for their livelihood, while countless gambling enthusiasts take plenty of enjoyment from table games and slots in the world of sports betting.
Therefore, sports betting might outstrip table games and slots in terms of its profit margins by a comfortable distance, but the widespread popularity of neither sector is in question.