• research

    Americans’ 2019 NFL Betting Plans

    Nearly 40 Million American Say They Plan to Bet on the NFL this Season
    research

    Americans’ 2019 NFL Betting Plans

    September 4, 2019

    More than 38 million American adults—15 percent of the U.S. adult population—are planning to bet on National Football League (NFL) games this season, according to a national survey commissioned by the American Gaming Association.

    Key Findings
    15% of American adults (38.1 million) say they will bet on the NFL this season
    39% of self-described “avid” NFL fans plan to place a bet on the NFL this season
    24% of Americans would like to bet on the NFL if it was legal and convenient to do so in their state

    The findings show that the spread of legal sports betting is increasing the number of Americans who will bet legally. The number of bettors saying they will place their bets in-person at a casino sportsbook is 6.9 million people, up from 5.7 million who say they placed a similar bet last year. Tens of millions of others will place bets with friends, participate in pools or squares contests or place their bets online.

    Asked who they would put a $25 bet on to win the Superbowl, NFL fans overwhelmingly favored the New England Patriots (23%), followed by the Kansas City Chiefs (8%), Dallas Cowboys (7%) and the New Orleans Saints (6%).

    Previous AGA research shows that the NFL stands to make $2.3 billion a year from a widespread legal sports betting market, largely as the result of increased fan engagement, and data from this survey show that bettors are more likely to engage with the league, its media partners and with other fans.


    Methodology

    Morning Consult conducted this poll online between Aug. 7-12, 2019 among a national sample of 11,001 American adults. The data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on age, educational attainment, gender, race and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of +/- 1 percent.